Review - "The Boy Most Likely To"

The Boy Most Likely To
by Huntley Fitzpatrick
rating:☆☆☆
published: 9th June 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

It’s not rocket science, Nan. You show someone they matter to you—do whatever it takes to show that.

Galley provided by publisher.

This is the first book by Huntley Fitzpatrick that I have read, and I enjoyed it well enough. At first glance, it doesn't seem that much different to every other contemporary young adult book, but it definitely deals with heavier themes than most of them, and that was refreshing.

I've not read many YA books that deal with themes like alcoholism and teen pregnancy (in fact, I can only call to mind one, which is Malorie Blackman's Boys Don't Cry, though I've not read it). What I found a little irritating was that it turned out that Hester was actually lying about it being Tim's kid. It kind of seemed like just a way of getting Hester and Cal out of Tim's life, so he's no longer got to be responsible and he and Alice can not worry about it all.

I did like the theme of family in this book, with Tim's family being awful and pretty unsupportive, while Alice's family was the complete opposite and at the same time, providing Tim with almost a surrogate family. To be honest, family is one of my favourite themes in books (especially found families).

Beyond that, it pretty much followed the formula of all such books, which I guess I signed up for by reading it, but equally gets a little tedious. Not to mention it was almost 500 pages long, and I don't really have that much patience for long books at the moment. There were probably parts that could have been shortened, that didn't really add to the story, but I read it quick enough that I wasn't too bothered by them.

Review - "The Walled City"

The Walled City
by Ryan Graudin
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 4th November 2014
spoilers? no

Goodreads

There are moments you wait for. And then there are moments you wait for. Moments you spend every other moment preparing for. Points of your life that click and turn. Push you in a completely new direction.

Before I review this, I just want to note there are a helluva lot of TWs in this book: child/domestic abuse, rape, drugs, forcing drugs on someone, sex slavery (involving an older man who wants to own one of the characters), and mentions of torture. It's dark, to say the least.

If I had to choose between this book and Wolf by Wolf, I think I would go with Wolf by Wolf simply because I loved the characters in that quicker than I did the ones in this. Don't get me wrong, I do love Dai and Jin Ling and Mei Yee, but I think because the book was split between their POVs, it took me longer to like them. Especially Mei Yee, who I was kind of bored by early on I gotta admit (until she decided that she needed to take action and help Dai) because she seemed to just sort of accept her lot in life and not want to do much to change it (I can understand why, given what happened to Sing, but equally it made her a little boring in the beginning). By the end, though, I loved her (although not so much her and Dai together. I don't know why, maybe because it seemed a bit of a cliche, like it's a boy rescues girl from captivity, they fall in love kind of thing).

On top of preferring the characters in Wolf by Wolf, I felt like in this, the plot didn't really kick in until about halfway through. Sure, it was there, but it was all shrouded in mystery, because Dai was keeping secrets and Jin Ling was keeping secrets and Mei Yee wasn't really able to do much. Around the halfway stage, when all the secrets came out, was when it started to get interesting (not that it wasn't before, when it was interesting in a setting-the-scene way, but interesting as in now shit is starting to go down). When it did kick in, though, it kicked in fast and everything went wrong very very quickly (and I had to go to bed with 90 pages to go and no idea of how everything would turn out. 0/10 do not recommend).

I don't think I have much more to say about this book, other than that the relationships between the characters also killed me (Dai was like a big brother to Jin Ling and I maybe teared up a little at that). Same old, same old, basically.

Review - "Jane Steele"

Jane Steele
by Lyndsay Faye
rating:☆☆☆
published: 22nd March 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

When we tell the truth, often we are callous; when we tell lies, often we are kind. Through it all, we tell stories, and we own an uncanny knack for the task.

Galley provided by publisher.

When I read Jane Eyre last year I hated it. I'm still not entirely sure why - some combination of the characters and lack of patience for Bronte's writing, probably. I also read and loved Lyndsay Faye's Timothy Wilde Mysteries, so when I saw the premise for Jane Steele I figured that if anyone could work some magic on Jane Eyre, it'd be her.

That being said, I think that my disliking the original book so intensely perhaps affected to my enjoyment of the book. In volume one, the story kept relatively close to the plot of the Bronte novel, and so I found it slow and not that easy to get into. Once it started to deviate from what I knew, for one when Edwin is killed, and later when Jane and Clarke run away to London, I found it a lot easier to read.

There was a point, though, between Jane becoming employed by Mr Thornfield and when Jack Ghosh shows up at the house, where I felt the storyline dragged. Not much was happening, or at least that's how it seemed, and I got a little bored.

The last 30% or so, after Jane had once again run away to London, was amazing. I would rate that by itself 5 stars, but I'd found the first 70% hard going, so overall it's more of a 3 star book in my opinion.

I think I only really had trouble with this book because of my dislike of Jane Eyre, because objectively it is a great book. Lyndsay Faye's writing is gorgeous as usual - she has this wonderful knack of crafting such intricate stories that have twists and turns that you would never expect. This was the case with all of the Timothy Wilde books and it is also the case here. In this one, the mystery, because it isn't central to the plot as much as it is in Timothy Wilde, is perhaps a little rushed. I still didn't see the actual culprit coming at all, and for a bit I believed it to be someone else (exactly as planned, I suspect, because there's this bit that nudges you towards a certain conclusion).

Also as usual, the relationships between characters are great. They are my favourite aspect of the Timothy Wilde books, and are perhaps what kept me from quitting this book around the halfway mark, when it was a little slow and I didn't know if I could get through. Some of the interactions had me laughing out loud.

In general, I think this book is probably suited more to people who either liked Jane Eyre or haven't yet read it. It's good, even if you didn't, and I would definitely recommend it either way, but it helps.

Review - "Rush Me"

Rush Me, New York Leopards #1
by Allison Parr
rating:☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 8th April 2013
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

You only get hurt that badly when you're doing something that matters. Something impossible. Taking a risk. Investing yourself.

This book was frustrating to say the least. I definitely enjoyed it, perhaps enough that it might have merited a 4 star review, but there were aspects of it that I really didn't like.

The story starts with Rachael accidentally gatecrashing the party of NFL star, Ryan Carter, and almost immediately there were some teething problems. First, she's a little drunk, and yet he still starts trying it on with her, trying to hook up with her, and then, when she tells him she's not interested, his response is to claim she is "insane" for not wanting to. Good start. Not.

So Ryan comes off as a huge dickhead in the beginning (and I don't mean dickhead like you would normally expect in a New Adult book, I mean colossally monstrously enormous dickhead. He accuses her of wanting to hang out with his friends so she can seduce one of them for their money. Just because she knows nothing about football and wasn't watching the game properly. And he never apologises for this assumption). But he grew on me a little (though every now and then he'd show his dickheadedness anew and I would dislike him again).

I also hated the implication from Rachael that being a sports star means that you're not academically clever. I am so so so tired of this trope. First of all, being good academically isn't the be-all-and-end-all. You can have different sorts of intelligence - someone who is good at school isn't necessarily going to have the attributes that make them good at sports - so honestly, Rachael can go fuck herself with her self importance on that front.

There was a part in this book where Rachael called herself out on slut-shaming, which was good, but at the same time felt a little like she was doing it in a sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek kind of way which is less good. But at the same time that there was no slut-shaming, there was Rachael sort of chewing herself out for being a "prude". Radical notion, I know, but maybe some people are more or less comfortable with sex, and you shouldn't judge based on how much they do or don't have it.

And now we get to the bit that I really hated. They end up having sex during some charity event that Rachael goes to as Ryan's date, but then afterwards, Rachael realises that it had been unprotected sex and starts panicking about how many people Ryan has had sex with, and what if she's picked up an STD from him, and what if she's pregnant? Two of these are logical worries to have, but instead of trying to calm her down, Ryan gets pissed off and says she's a freak, and just leaves her there. A healthy relationship, this is not.

To top it off, this isn't even the only time it happens. There's a second time, at Rachael's high school reunion, where Thomas (her high school crush) forces a kiss on her, before Ryan arrives and glares at him. He says he doesn't blame her for it, and then somehow they get into a conversation about money, and how Rachael won't accept him paying for shit for her (which I totally get. If there's a huge imbalance of power - or money - which there is in this case, given that he's an NFL star and she's in publishing, there's always going to be a conflict like that. It's just to be expected. See also: Gansey and Adam, and Ryan and Wes, to name a few). So they start yelling at each other and then end up (somehow) having angry sex. And then he storms off again. Told you it was healthy.

Anyway, after some moping around on Rachael's part, she decides they need to talk. Only Ryan's blocked her number and told the doorman where he lives to not let her up (very mature of him). So Rachael has to do this Big Gesture in order to get him back (because apparently she wants him back. Honestly, I don't see why). Long story short, it works, they talk, relationship problems solved (ha!).

I know it sounds like I really didn't like this book, but that's not so true. Yeah, I had some (pretty big) issues with it, but when Rachael and Ryan weren't doing this shit to each other, they were kinda cute. Besides, I'm a sucker for sports romances, so sue me.

Review - "The Winner's Kiss"

The Winner's Kiss, The Winner's Trilogy #3
by Marie Rutkoski
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 24th March 2016
spoilers? no

Goodreads

He told himself a story. Not at first. At first, there wasn’t time for thoughts that came in the shape of words. His head was blessedly empty of stories then. War was coming. It was upon him. Arin had been born in the year of the god of death, and he was finally glad of it. He surrendered himself to his god, who smiled and came close. Stories will get you killed, he murmured in Arin’s ear. Now, you just listen. Listen to me.

The problem with trilogies I often find is that the first book is good (just good enough to get you interested while also building up the world), the second book is amazing (the stakes get raised and everyone's in danger and you just want to scream because there's so much tension), and then the third book is a let down (partly because of how good the second book, partly because if the second book goes too extreme with the stakes then there's no way it can get resolved in one book). The Winner's Trilogy is one of the few trilogies I've read that doesn't suffer from this.

It's been a week since I finished The Winner's Kiss and I'm still no closer to being able to articulate my thoughts on it. It was a fitting ending to the series - if a slightly less painful one than I thought it might be. That's not to say it didn't tear my heart out because it did. It just was a little kinder about it than The Winner's Crime was. I envy the people who are only just starting this series now book three is out.

As in the previous two books, Marie Rutkoski's writing is gorgeous. I think, in terms of writing alone, The Winner's Trilogy would rank as one of my favourite series ever. And then bringing into the equation the characters means that this series is probably in my top five favourites (and I have a lot of favourite series). I don't know how to put into words how much I adore the characters (even as they frustrate me no end, especially Arin, I mean, really).

I don't know how to write any more of this review without spoiling the plot (just gotta say: it's such a good one, and that ending!!), so I'm going to leave it here. It's an amazing ending to an amazing series, and I will be recommending it to everyone for the rest of my life.

Review - "Him" and "Us"

Him and Us, Him #1 and #2
by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 28th July 2015, 8th March 2016
spoilers? yes (minor ones)

Goodreads: Him, Us

But here’s the thing about family, Ryan… blood doesn’t mean shit. You just need to surround yourself with people who do love you, and they become your family.

This is going to be my review for both Him and Us.

I initially rated this book 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5 stars, because despite the few issues I had, it was an enjoyable and quick read.

The issues I had (briefly) were: the use of the word "bi-curious" and the idea that by dating a bisexual person, you're "competing with two genders" (which is frankly ridiculous). Despite those problems, I enjoyed the book enough to overlook them. And they used the word bisexual, which is always good.

And then I was rereading parts when I came across this gem:

Jamie releases a slow, even breath, as if he’s trying to calm himself. “I want to punch you right now, Wesley. Like, for real.” I set my jaw. “What, for daring to call you out on the fact that you’re still into women?”

And then I got sad, and rated this book down a star because of the stifling biphobia in this quote. Sometimes, part of me thinks that I shouldn't rage on about things characters do or say in books, because they're just characters, but there's an author behind the characters, and so there must be a basis for that though coming from the author. And it's not the first time Sarina Bowen has written something like this into one of her books. Understatement of the Year has this scene where one of the characters says that not wanting to label yourself something implies that you believe people who label themselves as such are second class. So from now on, I'm going to be incredibly wary of any Sarina Bowen books.

Luckily, Us didn't have such blatant biphobia in it. It wasn't entirely free of the issue, with at one point, Wes thinking that Jamie might yet still break up with him to get together with a woman so he could have kids and a family (haven't you heard of adoption or surrogacy, Wes?).

Overall, both books were cute and good reads, and obviously I'm going to reread them over and over some time. I just wish they didn't contain such biphobia.

Review - "Winging It"

Winging It
by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James
rating:☆☆ 1/2
published: 20th February 2015
spoilers? yes (minor ones only)

Goodreads

Gabe rolled his eyes. “You are the most ridiculous human being I’ve ever met.” He put his hand over Dante’s face and gently shoved him away.

You know those times where you just gotta admit you've fallen into the deep dark pit of hockey and you're not getting out any time soon? This is one of those times.

Probably more like 2.5.

That's not to say I didn't like this, because I did (probably because of the hockey more than anything though). It's definitely not so good as Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy's hockey lit (based on the hockey lit I've read so far, they are the standard people should be aiming for), but it's enjoyable and pretty amusing and somehow I managed to stay up until 1am reading this the other night. Not to mention it has a bisexual character (using the word bisexual, too!).

There were (obviously) some issues I had. First off, will authors please please stop writing in Eastern European and Russian "accents" (you know the ones. Based off old Hollywood representations around the Cold War and later when the Eastern Europeans and Russians were all bad guys and missed out auxiliaries and definite articles and that shit). Literally, how does it aid the story? Just don't.

And then, of course, the Russian character turns out to be the homophobe on the team who doesn't pass to the gay player. Amazing. Do you wanna put any more stereotypes in this while we're at it? (He does later apologise, thankfully, but in doing that he mentions something about "Mother Russia". Because apparently that's how Russians refer to their homeland [insert exaggerated eye roll].)

The next point is less to do with the book itself and more to do with me getting pissed off. The team that has the guy who makes the first homophobic comment (because you knew it was coming) is the Philadelphia Flyers. Aka my team. I'm gonna fight someone I swear. (OK, so later on, there's a Preds player who's a lot more of a homophobe but I'm still not happy that it was the Flyers chosen as the first.) (Also, minor side point: the "Dekes" - aka team made-up for the purposes of this book - beat the Flyers in the playoffs but then lost to the Pens. Like hell that would happen, I'm sorry.)

One of the characters, Dante, has a nickname of "Baller", right? (It's never explained what is meant by it though.) So I'll be reading the book and he'll be referred to as Baller for a while, and then I'll turn the page and be reading about Dante. It's not bad writing, per se, but I just found it a little strange, that's all.

At one point, their coach (female - because they're a "revolutionary" NHL team, with a female coach and a female owner) goes into labour in the first period of a game, and manages to stick out the whole of the rest of the game (ie about 2 hours) in labour. Now, I don't know whether that's something that is possible, but I gotta say it sounds a bit... fake? Like, is she not in pain? Having contractions?

Confession time: when Kitty got traded, I cried. If this is how I deal with it for fictional hockey players, how am I supposed to deal when it happens in real life? (@ Flyers, please, never trade anyone ever.)

One last point: this book was so bloody long. I can't believe how much it was dragged out, like my ebook copy had 357 pages. Yikes.

Review - "South of Sunshine"

South of Sunshine
by Dana Elmendorf
rating:☆
published: 1st April 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

How do you expect anyone to accept you if you can't accept yourself?

Galley provided by publisher.

You know how, when you're watching a crap TV show, one of those ones that's horrifyingly bad - so bad you just want to cover your eyes and ears and stop watching, but it's compellingly horrifying. It's like a train wreck or a car crash, you're fixated on how badly everything is going wrong. That's me with this book.

I had high hopes. The synopsis reminded me a lot of The Miseducation of Cameron Post which is one of my all time favourites. Unfortunately, that didn't hold up.

Within the first few pages I had issues with this book. The majority of the characters were racist as hell, which I know is to show that they're backwards types and bigots, but that the main character hardly called them out on it was probably the first sign that I might not enjoy this book. Honestly, that was enough to have me almost (almost) DNF-ing this one. But I don't like DNF-ing books - I only do it when I really really can't stand it - so I continued reading.

And then I got to the slutshaming and biphobia.

There is one character in the book called Chelsea, who's nickname is "Chesty" because, guess what, she has big boobs and she uses them when she's flirting with people (which is apparently a lot). And this makes her a "slut" (a word that is even used to describe her at one point. I can't believe that in 2016 I am reading a book where the word "slut" is used. I thought we were passed this, but apparently not). She even gets this memorable quote:

It's ridiculous how she just throws herself on Bren.

And to top it all off, this is the bisexual character. Because clearly bisexuals are always flirting with everyone in sight and "throwing" themselves at people. I call biphobia.

(Also around this point, was the scene where one character gets the other to say "I'm gay and I'm proud" in order to get themselves comfortable with being gay. Because saying those words is a surefire way to get rid of all that internalised homophobia and self-hatred that comes from living in a town of homophobic, racist bigots.)

Then there was a great scene where the main character goes around her room, labelling things as marking whether they make her seem girly or boyish. Funny, I didn't realise inanimate objects were gendered. I mean, Plum purple duvet. Girl. Blue walls. Boy. What on earth?

At this point, I have to admit, I got tired and started skim reading so I could just reach the damn end already.

There was a point where the main character said about the girlfriend, heck, I might even be in love with her. You've known her for a month, maybe two, and you think you're in love. Instalove much? (I cannot stand instalove. It is one of my biggest gripes about YA, the number of times you have instalove instead of proper development of a relationship.)

Next there's this wonderful scene where, after she's screwed up her relationship with the girlfriend because, when they got caught making out (cliche much?), she bluffed it and said it didn't mean anything and she doesn't care, she takes it out on her best friend, who convinced her to roll with all this in the first place (the same one with the "I'm gay and I'm proud" catchphrase). And this is where I had a pretty major rant on Twitter, not gonna lie. Basically, he tells her to be proud about her gayness and own it, and she accuses him of not doing the same.

The problem I had was that that's not true. He might not be as out and proud as she kind of expects, but he never hides his gayness - unlike her with her dating boys (a bit hypocritical, don't you think) - he dates boys, and he doesn't go around shrugging off being found kissing another guy as not caring about the person (ha ha, it was all a joke, right guys?). And you can't fault him for some self-preservation when he's growing up in a bigoted and homophobic town (seriously, one of the characters comments about running all the gay people out of town to make it safe for their kids. What, did you think he'd go around advertising his sexuality?). He is out to them, but out in a way that he can deny and so be safe (like don't ask, don't tell) and that makes sense in this situation, but she's chewing him out for it and I got annoyed.

Then she goes and outs him to the school. And in doing so, says he can be the "next gay target". That is not cool. I get that she's angry, but doesn't she even think that maybe this isn't a good idea? Apparently not, because later on she comments It wouldn't do any good to out her [the bi character]. She would keep hiding like a coward. First off, if you're calling hiding your sexuality in a homophobic town cowardice, then aren't you no better off than this character? And secondly, you obviously haven't learned from your outing of your (ex, at this point) best friend. She has no qualms about outing this girl she hates, but she happily confesses to being wrong about outing her best friend, and apologises easily (though if I were her best friend I would not have forgiven her so quickly, if at all).

There's also a part where she's sad because she's lost all her friends. Well, who's fault is that? One, you drove away because you kept a huge secret from her. Two, you drove away when you outed him. Three, you drove away when you claimed that it meant nothing when you kissed her and you just brushed it off. Sorry, but you'll find no sympathy here.

My final point is back with the non-white characters (which there are three of who get names, and I guess more who don't but anyway). Right at the beginning, they get a cursory description (which seemed solely to the purpose of showing that these aren't gross stereotypes of non-white characters, but didn't do much more) and they showed up once (to show how gross and racist some of the kids were), and then they disappeared until the end. At which point, lo and behold, they show up for the sole purpose of supporting the LBGT+ characters in their quest for... being able to steal the float so they can paint it as a rainbow and turn the parade into a miniature Pride.

I'm starting to think I should have just DNF-ed when I had the chance.

Review - "The Star-Touched Queen"

The Star-Touched Queen
by Roshani Chokshi
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 26th April 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

That night, I dreamed of locked doors and baying hounds, rooms that were night-dark and a beast-king that smiled and laughed around a mouthful of broken stars to sing one phrase over and over: I know the monster in your bed.

Galley provided by publisher.

What a book. I don't exactly know how to put into words how good this book is. It reminds me of both Daughter of Smoke and Bone and The Wrath and the Dawn, with such gorgeous and lyrical writing.

The Star-Touched Queen tells the story of Mayavati, a princess of the kingdom of Bharata, who is cursed with a horoscope promising a marriage of death and destruction. She is content in the belief that her future lies in scholarly pursuits, rather than marriage, when her father springs on her a union with one of countries waging war against Bharata. However, her wedding doesn't go as planned, and Mayavati instead becomes the wife of Amar, and queen of Akaran.

The first half of the book covers this, with Maya slowly coming to terms with her new role and also starting to question why Amar is keeping secrets from her. While reading it, I was leaning more towards a 4 star review because, although I really liked it, what I found was that events happened really quickly and smoothly (perhaps strangely smoothly, because despite her claims that she didn't trust Amar, she seemed to go with him to Akaran very willingly) and then there was nothing for a stretch. Once beyond the halfway mark, though, everything kicks into gear. From this point, I pretty much couldn't put the book down. Everything appears to be lost, and Maya is on her own with no idea what to do.

Perhaps my favourite aspect of the book is the setting. The mix of Indian mythology and a Persephone and Hades style tale is so unique, and really well done. The writing is amazing and brings everything to life so effectively. The characters are also wonderful - Maya is probably my favourite, but Kamala definitely comes second (I laughed out loud a few times at her interactions with Maya). The way Roshani Chokshi was able to manipulate my feelings about Amar was great too. I started off liking him, but maybe finding him a little suspicious, before going through hating him (as Maya did) and then back to liking him again.

The romance for me felt a little off, but I think that was mostly because Maya knew nothing about her life with Amar before, whereas he knew everything and was already in love with her, while she had to fall in love with him. Once Maya had her memories back, I was OK with it.

Overall, this book was amazing, and definitely lived up to the good reviews of it that I've seen. It was one of my anticipated reads for this year, and I was in no way disappointed.

Review - "The Gods of Gotham"

The Gods of Gotham, Timothy Wilde Mysteries #1
by Lyndsay Faye
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 15th March 2012
spoilers? no

Goodreads

He wasn't in front of me any longer. He was a thousand and a thousand and a thousand miles away. It was a ransomed look. One he'd never before showed me. And since he'd never shown me, I'd never known it was there.

I read this book first a year ago, on someone's recommendation, and the Wilde brothers killed me then. Rereading it now, it's even worse. Because you know everything that's going to happen to them, in this book and in later books, and they're so innocent and unaware of everything that's to come.

Tim and Val Wilde are perhaps (or maybe not perhaps) my favourite brothers in all the books I've ever read. How do I even put into words how much I love them? Their relationship is one of the most painful ones I've read - it's dysfunctional and they spend most of their conversations trying to hurt each other in the first book, but they work it through, they care about each other and they protect one another so fiercely, because each is the only family the other has left. (I'm getting all emotional, sorry. I'll move on.)

Lyndsay Faye has the most gorgeous style of writing, too. It's so evocative, and that makes it so easy to imagine the setting, so you end up being subsumed into the book and before you know it, you're nearing the conclusion and you just don't want it to end. I would read everything ever that Lyndsay Faye wrote.

Even though this time round I knew roughly what was going to happen with the plot, it never took away from my enjoyment of the novel. It felt almost like I was reading it anew, and I love books like that. So what I knew who the culprit was? I didn't care. It's something that I'd assume is especially hard to pull off with mystery stories (because once you know whodunnit then you can't read the book the same way again), but Lyndsay Faye manages it.

Her characters are also wonderful, and so real. None of them are perfect and they've all their vices and they all get angry and lash out when they don't mean to, and I love that about them. They seem so human and I can understand their motivations, which happens rarely. I find a lot of the time that that seems to be the hardest thing to get right. (Most of my favourite authors have this knack, like Melina Marchetta.)

Anyway. I have rambled for long enough about how much I adore this book please read it. It's one of my favourites ever - honestly, I could reread this a million times over and never get tired.

Review - "Understatement of the Year"

Understatement of the Year, Ivy Years #3
by Sarina Bowen
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 29th September 2014
spoilers? no

Goodreads

He kissed me between the shoulder blades. “Getting along together was never the problem with you and me,” he said. “We’re both easy. It’s just the rest of the world that’s hard.”

Honestly, Sarina Bowen is a gift with all her hockey books. I've loved all the ones I've read so far (this one, Him, and Us).

In general, this book is great. The characters are wonderful, even Skippy (who I really didn't like at first but that's because he didn't like Graham who is my favourite).

The story is perhaps a little cliched, but it's still enjoyable. Graham made me almost cry a few times, as did Rikker (which means it's a good book. Only good books make you almost cry. Unless it's so bad you're almost crying, I guess). Bella was an angel, and I probably have a complaint about how few female characters there were. But then again, that seems to have been the case for most of the sports new adult I've read.

There was one major issue I had with this book, which I didn't notice when I first read it, but then I was rereading it and I realised something. This is the exchange:

“I’m gay, Graham. Or queer, if you like that word better. Whatever. I’m attracted to guys. You won’t say that out loud, will you? I’ll bet you didn’t even say the word to your mother when you told her. Did you?”

“No,” I told the pillow. He was right. I’d only said that Rikker was not just my friend.

“It’s like… you want to be able to tell people you’re straight, for some reason. Like gay isn’t good enough for you. Like it’s second class. Which makes me second class.”

My issue with this is the assumption that not wanting to label yourself means you see people who identify with that label as second class. Which is gross. I get the point of this - Rikker just wants Graham to admit he's not straight, but the apparent justification he gives for Graham's reluctance is disgusting. Combined with the biphobia in Him and Us, I'm now pretty leery about reading any more of Sarina Bowen's books that deal with LGBT+ characters.

Other than that, I adored this book. Graham and Rikker were great, and I loved seeing Graham's development. I would have liked some idea of how the team took the big reveal though, but I hope some of that comes in the next book.

Review - "The Wall of Winnipeg and Me"

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me
by Mariana Zapata
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 29th February 2016
spoilers? no

Goodreads

"What no one tells you is that the road to accomplishing your goals isn’t a straight line; it looks more like a corn maze. You stopped, you went, you backed up, and took a few wrong turns along the way, but the important thing you had to remember was that there was an exit. Somewhere."

What is it about Mariana Zapata and writing such amazingly believable relationships, all the while ramping up the sexual tension bit by bit until you think you're about to burst from impatience? This is the second book by this author that I've read and it's the same case as in the first, though at least this time I was prepared for the slow burn.

I loved Kulti when I read it last year, but I think I might just like this one better (it's a hard choice to make, OK. I love Sal Casillas and Vanessa Mazur equally, but I prefer Aiden to Kulti). This book also incorporates one of my favourite tropes ever - fake marriage - so that helps in giving it the slightest edge over Kulti.

There isn't really much more I can say, because I said it all when I reviewed Kulti; the slow burn is as amazing as usual, the characters are wonderful (especially Van and Aiden's interactions, and Van's relationship with Zac), and the way Mariana Zapata develops her relationships, from basically just acquaintances, to friends and finally to lovers, always kills me.

When I was reading it, I made a remark that it was so refreshing (frustratingly refreshing, but refreshing nonetheless) to see a girl interact with a guy other than the love interest without the love interest getting pissy. That's probably why I like Van and Zac's friendship so much. (Of course, then comes along another guy who Van knows and, surprise surprise, Aiden gets a little bit jealous. Thanks.)

Otherwise, as the 5-star review perhaps indicates, this book was amazing. Honestly, Mariana Zapata is one of those authors that I'll read any book by.

Review - "The Book of Phoenix"

The Book of Phoenix
by Nnedi Okorafor
rating:☆☆☆
published: 5th May 2015
spoilers? no

Goodreads

"To know someone's pain is to share in it. And to share in it is to relieve some of it.

Who Fears Death has been on my to-read list for a while, and I picked this one up in the bookshop, not realising it was the prequel to that. Overall, I enjoyed this one, although I found it hard to get into and the writing seemed a little choppy at times.

The Book of Phoenix tells the story of Phoenix, a genetic experiment created in the mysterious Tower 7, following her as she realises that the Big Eye (the people in charge of Tower 7) are not as good as she originally believes and works to destroy them.

It reminds me a lot of X-Men, for one, and I think that's mostly because Phoenix had wings and made me think of a combination of Storm and Angel. For the most part though, it wasn't that interesting. Not a lot seemed to happen for most of the book (or at least, it seemed to happen at not a particularly frenetic pace, which seemed kind of unrealistic given what was going on) and I found it kind of hard to get through (I was also snowed under with work and exam revision, so that may have contributed, but I still managed to read some other books in that time).

Also, at times, the writing seemed choppy and didn't flow very well. This mostly happened with speech - a lot of the time it didn't feel like how someone might actually speak, and that made it a little difficult to read easily.

Anyway, I did like this book, and I'm definitely going to be reading Who Fears Death when I can get my hands on it.

Review - "You Know Me Well"

You Know Me Well
by Nina LaCour and David Levithan
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 6th May 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

"The heart is a treacherous beast."
"But it means well."

Galley provided by publisher.

Back at the end of last year, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I saw a link to the first two chapters of this. It piqued my interest because I had relatively recently read Nina LaCour's Everything Leads To You and loved it, so of course I had to check this one out. I read the first two chapters and when I got to the end, I realised two things: 1) this was a book that was pretty much guaranteed to break my heart, and 2) I definitely wanted to read it. I've been eagerly waiting for You Know Me Well since then and when I got the chance, I read it within about 4 hours.

I think this might well be one of the best books I have read or am going to read this year (and yes, it is only March. That's how much I liked this book). I loved the characters and the plotline, even if I did spend about 40% of it on the verge of tears.

Unrequited love is one of those tropes that breaks my heart every time. I don't know what it is about it, but it's always angsty and it never ends the way I want it to (with the characters getting together). And it's always a thousand times worse when they're best friends. Ryan and Mark ticked all those boxes, and so from the off, I knew it was going to be one of those books.

Another thing I loved was Mark and Katie's friendship. There are so few friendships between boys and girls in YA literature that this one was so refreshing (and also that it didn't end up something romantic, which is always nice, even if that was only because they were both gay). My favourite scenes were between those two characters, especially the ones where Violet was also present. I don't quite know how to describe just how much I adored them as friends, but they were so amazing, and the way they supported one another was great. I wish there were more friendships like this in YA lit.

The relationships didn't all turn out exactly how I would have liked (Ryan and Mark, mostly. I didn't particularly like Taylor, if I'm honest, but that's probably entirely because I only saw him from Mark and Katie's points of view), but I was so happy Ryan and Mark, and Lenha and Katie remained friends and sorted their problems through. I can't stand it when books leave arguments between friends unresolved, even when the resolution is likely to be the end of a friendship.

So overall, this book was amazing. It's definitely going on my favourites list for this year, possibly for all-time.

Review - "The Square Root of Summer"

The Square Root of Summer
by Harriet Reuter Hapgood
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 6th May 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

This is what it means to love someone. This is what it means to grieve someone. It's a little bit like a black hole. It's a little bit like infinity.

Galley provided by publisher.

The Square Root of Summer has been on my to-read list since last November, and was one of my anticipated reads for this year. The synopsis intrigued me, especially the promise of time travel mixed with a YA contemporary, and the book itself did not disappoint.

The book follows the story of Gottie Oppenheimer, a year on from the death of her grandfather. She's just getting over his death, and the subsequent break-up between her and her secret boyfriend, who just so happens to be one of her brother's best friends, when her dad tells her that their ex-neighbour, and her best friend until 5 years before when he moved to Canada, is coming to stay with them. Gottie hasn't talked to Thomas since he left, even though they were best friends and inseparable, even though they made a blood pact the day before he moved away.

Thomas coming back seemingly coincides with the fraying of the spacetime fabric resulting in the creation of wormholes that Gottie keeps slipping through into her past, and into memories she doesn't want to relive. While Gottie tries to figure out what is going on, and how these wormholes are being created, she has to navigate through all the relationships in her life, from dealing with Thomas' return and Jason ignoring what they had together, and her other best friend, Sof's desire to start hanging out again.

One of the major things I loved about this book, was the subversion of the "girls are good at art and boys at science" trope. Gottie was amazing at physics and maths, but terrible at art, while her brother Ned, was the artist. I will happily read any book that includes this.

Another great thing was that the physics that was used to describe how the wormholes formed was all correct (and complete with diagrams to explain it) and not simplistic or explained vaguely (as in some books I might mention). It was all solid physics (if a bit tenuous because there's no way of proving it and it's all theoretical but that's just an issue I have with theoretical physics in general).

This book reminded me a lot of I'll Give You The Sun which was one of the best books I read last year, and high up on my all-time favourites list. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who liked that. Actually, I think I would recommend this book to anyone because it was so good I read it in one morning and I already want a reread.

Review - "Willful Machines"

Willful Machines
by Tim Floreen
rating:☆☆
published: 20th October 2015
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

I don’t think I chose to be gay, if that’s what you mean. In fact, I didn’t choose a lot of things. Like being the son of the president. Or coming to Inverness. Or even being in the closet, really. All in all, I’d say I have about as much free will as an espresso maker.

As far as I can tell, I'm in a minority for disliking this one. I was really looking forward to it, too, not least because the evil robot was called Charlotte and I have a weakness for books where characters share my name.

I think part of my issue was that I kept comparing it, unintentionally, to Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson, which, despite the slightly iffy title, is an amazing book about a robot apocalypse (which not enough people have read, therefore I will always recommend. Please go read it). Willful Machines is, obviously, a completely different book, but I always have trouble with comparing books that sound similar (see, The Wrath and the Dawn vs A Thousand Nights).

It wasn't that this book was badly written or anything. I mean, once everything got going, I enjoyed it well enough. But it took a while for everything to get going, and I don't really have patience for books like that most of the time (there are, of course, exceptions, but this was not one of them).

Also, the relationship was very very much instalove. I'm pretty sure they had like, 3 conversations before they decided to come out with the "I love you"s. Sorry, but I just can't believe it. That Nico was in fact a robot was pretty obvious too, which was annoying.

I liked that it was a story about a gay main character without it being a story about coming out though. Even if there was a slightly awkward bit at the end with Lee confessing he loved Nico. Calm down, boyo. You've known this guy for what? A month, maximum?

Basically, I was pretty disappointed, especially after hearing so many rave reviews (it has an average rating among my Goodreads friends of ~4.3, so I had high hopes), but that's life I guess.

Review - "Signs Point to Yes"

Signs Point to Yes
by Sandy Hall
rating:☆☆☆
published: 20th October 2015
spoilers? no

Goodreads

She knew she needed to get home before anyone noticed her absence, but each of her limbs felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, and her brain was clouded with worry. She sat on the bench a little longer.

I've seen pretty mixed reviews of this book, and I can see why. The writing isn't great and the characters are maybe bordering on one-sided, but the book is cute and the relationships are pretty good.

I had a few issues with this book though. For one, Ravi was a gross sexist pig and he didn't develop at all in the book. He just stayed in his gross sexist piggishness. And also he hated Jane for no reason whatsoever. The first reason that is given for his dislike is because he thought she was stupid. And then it turns out it's because one time they worked together on a group project and only got a B. I can't believe this, it is ridiculous. If Ravi had developed so that he liked Jane I could forgive that, but he doesn't. He remains a gross sexist pig and I hate it.

Jane and Teo were cute though, and I loved how they dealt with Teo's little sisters together. Margo and Kara were so cute too and I wish there had been more of them. Like, so much more. There was one scene where they were caught kissing, and another where it was mentioned they had been kissing, but nothing more and it makes me sad. Margo referred to herself as bisexual too which was great because that hardly ever happens (and in YA lit too!!).

Overall, it was a pretty cute read but it wasn't particularly special.

Review - "Cambridge Blue"

Cambridge Blue, DC Gary Goodhew Mystery #1
by Alison Bruce
rating:☆☆
published: 1st January 2009
spoilers? no

Goodreads

You lose a child and you do understand each other's grief at first, but if you get out of step with each other, it's all over. Suddenly each of you is alone.

To be honest, I only picked this book up because it was a murder mystery set in Cambridge. That was it. Waterstones had it on a table of books set in Cambridge (along with The Grantchester Mysteries which I love the TV show of) and so I figured I'd trust Waterstones and read this.

Not my best idea, I gotta admit.

I should probably have guessed as such. I already know that I'm seriously easily annoyed when it comes to authors who haven't got the simple fact of a language correct, so when it's a town I know and they haven't got it right? Uh oh.

Which was the case here. I don't get it at all though, because apparently Alison Bruce lives in Cambridge, but the Cambridge she describes is not the one I know. For example: there is no "Rolfe Street" in Cambridge, nor a railway bridge that has railings you can look out over if you're heading out of town (and given where he was headed I assume it was Hills Road Bridge he was referring to which definitely doesn't have railings). Bradwell's Court hasn't existed since 2006 and this book was published in 2008. It's Christ's Pieces, not Christ's Piece. The flats on the Fen Causeway are not white and fancy. (Sorry I got carried away.) I know all these things might seem picky but they actually affect how easy I find it is to read the book. I kept stopping while reading it because the descriptions didn't make sense and I couldn't just let them go by.

That wasn't the only problem I had with this book though. The writing wasn't amazing and seemed kind of clunky in places. Also, did it even have a proofreader? I picked up "exelsior", "futher", "definately", and "thougthfully". "Exelsior" even appeared twice in the same page.

Neither did the mystery grab me all that much. The murderer was pretty obvious (especially when right at the beginning there's this comment about the guy being possessive. Like, if that's going to be the case, at least try make it a little less blindingly obvious maybe?) although the conclusion seemed pretty convoluted and I lost track of what was actually going on (something about a little brother being killed, and a girlfriend, and there was some incest thrown in there for good measure?).

I did like Gary though. Even if there was a little of the Brilliant Detective Syndrome going on. And also that weird stalkerish behaviour with the receptionist I can't remember the name of. Even if he did admit to knowing it was stalkerish and deciding to stop, I'm still leery about it.

Anyway, I'm going to go foist this book on my mum so we can have Deep Discussions over the incorrectness of the Cambridge descriptions.

Review - "Kulti"

Kulti
by Mariana Zapata
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 20th March 2015
spoilers? no

Goodreads

When something is broken into too many pieces, you can’t stare at them and try to glue them back together; sometimes you just have to sweep up the pieces and buy something else.

All hail Mariana Zapata, queen of slow burn romances.

Of all the New Adult lit I've read so far, I think Mariana Zapata is my favourite author. Having read this and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, I can safely say she's definitely the best author of NA slow burns that I have read. Kulti was one of those books that I had to keep putting down so I could clench and/or bite my fists in sheer frustration that they weren't getting together yet. The tension was just too much sometimes.

Kulti tells the story of Sal Casillas, a professional footballer, whose team decides to employ her childhood hero, Reiner Kulti, as a coach. But Kulti doesn't turn out to be everything she expects, and before long, they're both antagonising the other.

Over the course of the book, they become friends though, and this is one of the many things I think that Mariana Zapata does so well. She has this knack of creating really believable friendships on the way to having the characters fall in love, unlike many other books I've read where it seems that the friendship comes after the falling in love. Sal and Kulti have such a great rapport as well, from Sal having Kulti saved in her contacts as "German Chocolate Cake" to the nicknames - I laughed so much when he called her "Taco" for the first time. (As a side note, my favourite part is the point where Sal attack-hugs Kulti and he's so surprised he just hugs her back.)

The minor characters are also amazing. Sal's dad is probably definitely my favourite of them all, and Sal's family in general has such brilliant relationships and they're so supportive of each other I'm crying. Honestly I love them so much.

I did have a couple of issues with this book (which is why it's a 4.5 rather than a 5). For one, the slutshaming was annoying. I can't remember exactly what happened but it kind of ruined my enjoyment of the book. Also, the fact that Kulti kept getting referred to as "the German" was a little offputting (especially during the sex scenes, even if I did skim read them. I'm glad Mariana Zapata changed her approach for The Wall of Winnipeg and Me). Actually, I couldn't read the sex scenes without laughing, but that's not to say they were bad. I can never read sex scenes without laughing, it's an issue.

This is one of the best books I read in 2015 despite that, and I'm putting Mariana Zapata on my list of authors for whom I'll read whatever they write.