Friday 24 February 2017

"Sarah" Book Review



My Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3.5 Stars

What a creepy little book!

I'll start with what I liked about Sarah - the creep factor. I applaud the author's imagination and ability to gross me out. This is not an easy task to do especially since I watch lots of gore films and have read many horror books in the past. I cringed more than once during certain scenes. Sadly, those were the only redeeming qualities of the book.

The main character was pretty naive throughout the book, even at the very end. The peripheral characters were irresponsible and naive as well causing me to think that they did not fully understand the severity of the situation.

The main romantic relationship featured was rushed and it felt forced.

Digital copy received from Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review

Thursday 16 February 2017

"See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan" Book Review




My Rating: ★★★★☆ 4 stars

Such an original plot and choice of delivery in terms of the writing. I laughed out loud a few times, chuckled quite a bit and even shed a tear once or twice. If a book can bring all this out of me then I usually consider my time well spent!

I recommend this book to anyone looking for an uncomplicated, easy read that is something quite different from the usual books out there.

One issue I had with the book was that Alex was naïve and seemed more like a six year old but three in responsibility years.


A digital copy was received via NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Monday 13 February 2017

"The Upside of Unrequited" Book Review


My Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3.5 Stars

Such a quirky, cute cover right?


Now, I know a lot of people reading this book have read the author’s popular title “Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda” and have grown to love the author and her ability to create strong, lovable, diverse, YA characters who tackle personal issues in a socially influenced, modern world. Suffice it to say, this is the first book I have read by the author and I am glad that I have nothing to compare it you. In a way, I am truly unbiased.
My first impressions of this book lay in the premise, which seemed like it would be a fun read filled with character relationships that even I would be envious of. While the relationship between the four main girls who were childhood friends was annoying (too girly and it made me think that I am getting way too old for this genre) I quite enjoyed the relationship between the twins. There was an authenticity to them drifting apart and feeling less important to each other when a significant other enters the picture. It is something I have felt before and the realness of the situation caused the emotions expressed by the characters to feel raw and pure.

The love interests in the story fell a tad bit flat, bordering on no chemistry between characters. Some characters seemed promiscuous to me.

I did not enjoy the parents’ way of speaking to their kids. To me, there were too many profanities used in the presence of the kids. At one point I was irked when the parents got angry when the kids responded with profanity, because, how can you raise kids using this language then expect them to respond differently. Their constant use of profanity felt like they were trying to give off the vibe of “hey, we’re the cool, different, hip parents”. It just felt like there was a lack of respect for the kids. Of course someone else reading the book will disagree with me and that’s okay.
One last thing that I’m not even sure is worth mentioning but I will anyway, is that I didn’t feel a connection at all to Molly. As a bigger girl, I love reading about other pleasantly plump girls falling in love and navigating through life just being their awesome selves. The lack of connection could have been because of the fact that I did not know Molly’s actual size. Maybe it was mentioned in the first few pages and I just hadn’t realized. She mentioned Modcloth, which is a store I love and it’s known for selling plus size clothing and she did mention insecurities but then again she could have been a size 10 who thinks of herself as fat. There was an incident where a classmate told her that she was pretty for a bigger girl but maybe this person was so accustomed to size 0 girls that anyone a tad bit bigger gets called fat. I just didn’t know her size and I would have liked to.

I didn’t love this book, but I also didn’t hate it.

I’ll have a hard time recommending this book since I don’t think the younger audience (high school teens between the ages of 13-16 should read it; and the older audience (like me) may have issues with the details of the book (profanities, highly sexually active kids etc.) 

A digital copy was received via NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Sunday 5 February 2017

"Letters to the Lost" Book Review


My Rating: ★★★★☆ 4.5 Stars

LETTERS TO THE LOST, despite being full of teenage angst and impulsive kids, was actually a pretty entertaining yet emotional read.

Juliet writes letters to her photojournalist mom who has passed away. She leaves these letters at her mom’s gravestone as a way of communicating with her, but when Declan, the troubled boy doing community service answers one of her letters, a relationship is formed.

Both characters have lost someone they loved dearly and that’s what brings them together in the first place; however, they do not know the true identity of each other so they find solace in anonymity which allows them to truly speak freely.

The relationship between Declan and Juliet far surpassed the relationship between their anonymous personas. I say this because from the start, through their letters, they had pain in common which brought them close pretty quickly; however, in person, they did not get along at first and had nothing really in common, it made it that much harder for them to form a connection, which they ultimately did. And I saw that as more meaningful.

It frustrated me that they misinterpreted each other so much and that they were both judgemental toward each other but I did not remove stars for that because this was simply a reflection of true human behaviour. It annoyed me that they would impulsively say hurtful things to each other and get angry so quickly but this is what happens in real.


It was a great read and I look forward to reading more from this author.



Digital Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

Saturday 4 February 2017

"One Of Us Is Lying" Book Review



My Rating:   ★★★★★ 5 Stars

I was highly astounded after finding out that this is a debut novel. 
Debut Novel you say? Why yes!

The author seems to be a well-established writer with a few published novels out there already. But I digress; let’s get into the review of the actual book and not how surprised I am by the quality of the writing.

One of Us Is Lying has a brilliant plot with enough twists to make the ride a dizzy journey. 
The “Bayview Four”, as individuals, were the quintessential, most popular cliques found in any given high school, much like we’ve seen in the Breakfast Club. 
We had the jock, the princess, the straight ‘A’ student and the delinquent; and as the author said, One of Us is Lying was initially inspired by The Breakfast Club. 
The characters were, in no way, superficial. They all had depth and dark secrets which influenced their actions. I appreciated how they weren’t one-dimensional and how the author put time into creating solid characters. 
The peripheral characters were also interesting and had me wondering if they were involved in the death of the victim. I found myself taking notes and trying to solve the mystery before the big reveal, which I kind of did. 

The relationship between the characters genuinely grew. It didn’t feel forced even though the characters were, in a sense, forced to gravitate toward each other because of the situation they were in. 
I could feel when things started changing and when they began getting closer, not just because they were all murder suspects, but because they realized that they did have something else in common. 
Naturally, I felt more of a connection toward Bronwyn, it could be because she was the first character’s POV which showed up, or it could be that I identified with her the most. In turn, I also felt a connection toward Nate, and thus, their relationship and POV held my attention more than the others. I ended up looking forward to reading their stories and seeing their relationship grow. 

There was an underlying theme which I won't mention which becomes quite prominent toward the end. The author was brilliant and creative in the way she presented this theme, yet it was heartbreaking in its truth. Social media plays such a great part in our lives these days and can connect us to others who share our interests, all the good, as well as the destructive interests that we may have; and teenagers are so easily influenced by others, especially when they seek acceptance from others. I was angry at a peripheral character in particular, knowing that she could have prevented something from happening if only she had spoken to someone. 

I know this was just a fictional book but it presented us with a sad reality that needs to be addressed. Some teenagers/Young adults around the world do not seem to fully understand the severity of situations and thus consequences occur which cannot be reversed (in many cases). 
My wish is that if this book is read by a high school student, or a college student who is experiencing something similar to what went on in the book that he/she will do something, speak up, get help.


I really did enjoy this book and I am looking forward to reading more from this author. 

Digital Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.