Category: reviews

Review: Unbecoming by Jenny Downham

Review: Jenny Downham is one of my must-read authors, her contemporary YA is always thought-provoking, feels authentic and is beautifully written. Therefore, it’s fair to say Unbecoming was a highly anticipated 2015 read for me. What I love about Unbecoming is the fact that this isn’t a story about one character, but about three generations of women, each with their own secrets and fears and hopes. Considering the popularity of the ‘absent parent’ device in YA, it is refreshing to see a YA book about family relationships ,and one that doesn’t remove the ability to empower its teenage characters through those relationships. Katie’s relationship with her grandmother felt very honest and was a highlight of the book. They develop a strong relationship after a more uncertain start and it’s something I’d like to see more as it’s a relationship not always explored so […]

Posted September 14, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Mini Reviews #4: The Netgalley Catchup

Review: I love Kody Keplinger’s YA. I think she’s a brilliant, honest voice in YA and very engaging. It goes without saying Lying Out Loud was definitely a hotly anticipated 2015 read for me. Sonny is a liar, she almost can’t help it, but in many ways it’s much easier to live a lie than tell the truth, especially about her parents. After Sonny pranks new annoying boy, Ryder, after he asks out her best friend Amy, she accidentally ends up talking to him all night and connecting. Only, she’s still signed in as Amy. Now Sonny’s getting into lies and deceptions that might finally be her undoing and cost her friendship with Amy, as well as ruining her chances with Ryder, who she might actually liked. Wes’ sister from The Duff, Amy, is a key character in this book and it […]

Posted July 29, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Review: Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

Review: Leah Thomas’ debut Because You’ll Never Meet Me arrived through the postbox as a surprise with a very intriguing premise. I find epistolary novels quite interesting and the idea of this impossible sounding friendship where they can never meet was unusual. Ollie is allergic to electricity, coming into contact with it causes seizures so he is virtually stranded off the grid. His only real friend is a neighbour’s relative and he struggles with the more normal life she has and reconciling and competing with that with his own isolated world. Ollie is put in touch with Moritz, a teenager in Germany who relies on an electronic pacemaker who was born with no eyes, by his doctor and while it isn’t entirely smooth at first, a friendship forms. The plot goes in a direction I didn’t entirely expect, though as […]

Posted July 27, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Review: I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Review: Where do I even start with this book? I loved The Sky Is Everywhere so this was one of my most anticipated releases of 2015 so my expectations were high to say the least. Love. Family. Art. These seem to the keystones of I’ll Give You The Sun. Nelson writes vividly about art, a love of it, the beauty and destruction of it. It’s a story of siblings, twins, once inseparable and now quite separate. Told in two timelines when the twins are thirteen and sixteen and we learn a lot about Noah and Jude’s . Nelson’s prose is poetic, literary and yet doesn’t sacrifice feeling for style. I still felt for the characters and the plot, however the plot does feel a little loose at points but I felt that was almost part of the book’s character and […]

Posted July 24, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Review: All That Glitters by Holly Smale

Review: The Geek Girl novels are such a fun YA series and Harriet is a great main character so I was looking forward to All That Glitters. Harriet’s finally a sixth former, however her best friend Nat is at college and Harriet feels they’re drifting, plus Toby’s nowhere to be found. Is sixth form really going to be any different? I don’t want to spoil the plot details too much but this Geek Girl book really examined the school experience well, as a lot of the other Geek Girl books have involved going to another country this one has a more relatable setting for a lot of its audience. It’s hard to read parts of Harriet’s school scenes, especially as her classmates don’t exactly treat her well at the start, however as uncomfortable as this may be it’s also a reality for […]

Posted June 8, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Review: Othergirl by Nicole Burstein

Review: Full disclosure first; I’ve met and chatted with Nicole a few times through the blogging community and she was kind enough to send me a copy of Othergirl to review. As always, this doesn’t affect my review’s content, tone, or honesty. I was really excited for Nicole’s YA debut, especially as I’d been chatting with her from when she worked in book selling and blogged at some YA events and she’s brilliantly enthusiastic about YA. Othergirl has a fantastic premise about what happens when your best friend is the superhero and you’re just a regular person? This book is fantastically fun and fans of graphic novels and superhero stories will find so much to enjoy. The plot is original and despite sounding very removed from teenage experience, really highlights the difficulties in friendships, feeling like you’re not as good as […]

Posted June 1, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Mini Reviews #3: Netgalley Edition

Title: Me and Mr J Author: Rachel McIntyre Publisher: Egmont Publication Date: March 5th 2015 Source: Free review copy from publisher Summary: Fifteen-year-old Lara finds her soulmate. There’s just one problem – he’s her teacher. Lara’s life has changed radically since her father lost his job. As the eldest, Lara tries to keep upbeat, and the one outlet for all her problems is her diary where she can be open about how dire everything is at home, and worse, the fact that she’s being horrifically bullied at school. And then a shining light comes out of the darkness – the new young and MALE teacher, Mr Jagger. The one person who takes Lara seriously and notices her potential. The one person who is kind to her. The one person who she falls madly and hopelessly in love with. The one person […]

Posted May 20, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Blog Tour – Review: Salt and Stone by Victoria Scott

Review: I loved Fire and Flood last year and was eagerly anticipating the next installment in the series so was really pleased to receive a review copy from Chicken House. Fire and Flood took me by surprise last year and I remember just being so caught up in the world, but I was a little worried the magic would have worn off when it came to reading Salt and Stone. I luckily was wrong and ended up devouring the book as quickly as possible. Tella is back and a lot more kickass. She’s questioning things and really doing her very best to get through an incredibly difficult feat. I loved seeing her development and was really rooting for her. One side effect of some of the plots that necessitated this was that Guy and her relationship with him felt changed, especially at the […]

Posted April 1, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Review: The Whispering Skull (Lockwood & Co #2) by Jonathan Stroud

Review: I loved The Screaming Staircase, Stroud’s first Lockwood novel, so was keenly anticipating the follow up. Lockwood and Co is a great series and the Whispering Skull offered the same humour, darkness, spooky scenes and engaging characters as in the first novel. This time, the central plot concerns a dare between Lockwood and Co and the rival Fittes agency. They need to find a missing relic and fast. The series is developing well and characters are feeling more and more three dimensional. George’s mishaps remind me of Jerry on Parks and Recreation as the poor guy just can’t seem to get it right. Lucy is also a strong narrator and we learn more about her as the story progresses. As for Lockwood, there’s an intriguing twist at the end of the book that offers more insight into his character. I […]

Posted March 1, 2015 by chooseyabooks in britishbookschallenge, reviews / 0 Comments

Blog Tour: Review – Code Red Lipstick by Sarah Sky

Note: This review is part of the blog tour for Jessica Cole: Fashion Assassin. It was meant to go live yesterday (Saturday) but due to unforeseen circumstances I was unable to post this until today. Review: I heard a lot about the Model Spy series through twitter and the UKYA community so when Faye (A Daydreamer’s Thoughts) asked me if I’d like to review the first book for Sarah Sky’s upcoming blog tour I leapt at the chance. I really enjoyed Code Red Lipstick and read it at just the right time, when I needed something fun and funny to read. While the concept isn’t entirely new, Jessica’s realistic and relatable voice carried this book really well and Sky raised several themes and ideas that made it stand out in the crowd, plus the gadgets and Bond-like feel worked well. The balance between modelling […]

Posted February 15, 2015 by chooseyabooks in blogtour, reviews / 1 Comment