Review: All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Review: All The Bright Places intrigued me from the moment I read the synopsis and its striking cover. I’d heard quite a bit of positive buzz around this title and I love contemporary YA. All The Bright Places is the dual-narrative story of Theodore Finch (a brilliant character name) and Violet Markey. When both teenagers end up meeting on the edge of their school’s bell tower neither jump off it and when they become partners for a school project an unlikely friendship starts. Both Violet and Finch were clear individual characters, however for me Finch was a much more vibrant character and came off the page a lot more easily than Violet. At times I felt like Violet was more in Finch’s shadow, a character who steals his scenes with relative ease. This at first made me a little unsure of […]

Posted January 14, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 2 Comments

2015 Blogging Survey

Hi everyone, I mentioned at the end of last year I wanted to conduct a survey this month to find out about how to improve ChooseYA this year. I’d also like to start a newsletter and want to gauge if people would actually read and subscribe to this. I would so appreciate you spending five minutes or so filling out this brief survey (multiple choice). If there is anything you think you would like to see more of, or would like to see on the blog and it’s not in the survey please leave me a comment or email me. The survey will be live for the next 1-2 weeks. Loading…

Posted January 13, 2015 by chooseyabooks in discussion, Uncategorized / 0 Comments

Review: Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

Review: I was really intrigued when I heard that Stripes were going to be publishing YA and not just YA but creepy horror YA in the style of the old Point Horrors under ‘Red Eye’. I love horror movies (not so much the gory ones) and at the same time hate them because I always get five minutes into a film and remember I actually have an overactive imagination and will get a bit freaked out. Frozen Charlotte involves an old boarding school and creepy dolls and the scares start early with a very creepy oujia board scene (always a subplot that will scare me). Sophie is a strong narrator dealing with the death of her best friend and the weight of the possibility of their oujia experience having a significant part in that death after calling on her dead cousin. She […]

Posted January 9, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 5 Comments

Review: Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley

Review: When I was a kid, I secretly loved this Disney Channel film with Hilary Duff called Cadet Kelly, in which an artistic teenager is sent to military school and that painted a fairly idealised view of military school with Shawn Ashmore as the romantic lead. So reading the summary for Rites of Passage, I couldn’t help but be intrigued, however I didn’t expect to enjoy Rites of Passage as much as I did. Sam is one of the first female students at Denmark Military Academy, attending after her brother Amos dared her shortly before his suicide. Her other brother is not particularly impressed by Sam taking it up. Where Hensley excels with Rites of Passage is in making it more than a guilty pleasure read set in a military academy with secret societies. The discrimination, hazing and harassment Sam endures is painful […]

Posted January 5, 2015 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

2015 Goals and Reading Challenges

This year I want to take part (and actually remember to link up the reviews) in a few challenges as well as setting some blogging and reading goals of my own. I’m also starting a survey which should be up soon so I can have a look at how to make chooseya even better and if some features I’m toying with, like a newsletter, would be wanted so please take part if you can. 1. Maintain a regular posting schedule on the blog. Ideally 5 days a week, but three would be acceptable too. 2. Explore plug-ins and ways of enhancing the blogging experience both for myself and viewers. On that note, what are your must have plug-ins for wordpress? 3. Get more involved in things like bookstagram and maybe, just maybe one day book tube- that said, because I like […]

Posted December 30, 2014 by chooseyabooks in Uncategorized / 1 Comment

TV Post: What I’ve Been Watching Lately

Ever since I announced I would be including posts about TV (and potentially films) with YA appeal on the blog, I’ve been trying to write the perfect post to start this chapter. It turns out there is no perfect post. There are in fact four saved drafts of half completed posts that just didn’t feel right. Recently I decided that maybe I should just start with something simple, relaxed, more of a prologue to carry on the writing metaphor. For me, TV shows and books are intrinsically linked, and yes films too. They offer entry to another world, either through images or words. They are portals. Recently I was attending a blogging event (more on that shortly) and surprised myself by spending more of the evening than planned discussing a multitude of TV shows a lot of us enjoyed watching […]

Posted November 27, 2014 by chooseyabooks in tvpost / 0 Comments

Review: The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Review: After reading and enjoying Suma’s Imaginary Girls and hearing a lot of praise from blogger/librarian Stackedbooks I was desperate to read The Walls Around Us which has been described as Orange is the new Black Swan. Like Imaginary Girls, The Walls Around Us feels both contemporary and supernatural, almost magical realist in a sense. The Walls Around Us is beautifully written and Nova Ren Suma is a clear talent in the YA world. While at times the novel feels a little confusing – there are two main narrators who reveal the story of a third character, Orianna, and some time jumps all running simultaneously, it is a compelling read and one well worth pursuing. I read this novel in one sitting until about 2 am. Centred around a juvenile detention facility, Violet, Orianna and Amber narrate the story. Each character was […]

Posted November 17, 2014 by chooseyabooks in reviews / 0 Comments

Mini Reviews #2

Title: The 100 Society Author: Carla Spradberry Publication Date: September 4th 2014 Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books Source: Review copy from publisher via Netgalley Summary: For sixth-form student Grace Becker, The 100 Society is more than just a game; it’s an obsession. Having convinced her five friends at Clifton Academy to see it through to the end, Grace will stop at nothing to carry out the rules of the game: tagging 100 locations around the city. With each step closer to the 100-mark they get, the higher the stakes become. But when the group catches the attention of a menacing stalker – the Reaper – he seems intent on exposing their illegal game, tormenting Grace with anonymous threats and branding their dormitory doors with his ominous tag. As the once tight-knit group slowly unravels, torn apart by doubt and the death of a student, they no […]

Posted November 3, 2014 by chooseyabooks in reviews, Uncategorized / 1 Comment

Blog Tour: 3 Days To Go Until The Maze Runner [Review and Signed Book Giveaway]

Today I am posting as part of the blog tour for the run-up to The Maze Runner’s movie release in 3 days (10th October 2014). I’m really excited for the Maze Runner movie as the lead actor, Dylan O’Brien, plays one of my favourite characters on Teen Wolf. I have a review of the book and a giveaway for a copy of edition of the Maze Runner signed by the author James Dashner. Title: The Maze Runner Author: James Dashner Publisher: Chicken House Books Publication Date: August 4th 2011. Series/Standalone: 1st in a series. Format: Paperback Source: Publicist/Publisher Also by this author: The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, The Kill Order, Eye of Minds. Goodreads Description: When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by boys who welcome him […]

Posted October 7, 2014 by chooseyabooks in blogtour / 9 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’ve Only Read One Book From But NEED to Read More

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created the Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is about authors we’ve only read one book from but need more. I’ve chosen to focus on authors with more than one book already out to help me shortlist more easily. I’ve also used my own books for photos, so apologies if the lighting is rubbish (it’s a bit of a miserable day) but it’s something I’d like to play around with more on the blog. Matthew Quick I read Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock last year and thought it was a strong YA novel. I’ve also seen and enjoyed the film adaption of Silver Linings Playbook so Matthew Quick is definitely an author I need to read more of. Kendare Blake I began attempting to rectify this today as I finally bought Girl of Nightmares! I love Anna Dressed […]

Posted September 16, 2014 by chooseyabooks in toptentuesday / 2 Comments