Check out the full review here!
Say Her Name - James Dawson
RATING: ★★★★★
Find it on bookdepository here.
People who live in the UK might have heard about the YA Book Prize: it's an award for the best UK young adult book and the winner will be announced in March. However, there is already a shortlist with 10 of the best UK YA books of 2014. Up until March, I will read each of these books (one a week) and post a review - I'm reading the books in the same order as the YA Book Prize twitter account is.
I. Do. Not. Like. Horror. And not just what normal people consider horror, but everything that has a semi-dark scene in it in which someone is scared is horror for me. So I was really really really not looking forward to reading Say Her Name for my YA book prize challenge. Like I almost didn't want to do this challenge, because I saw that this book was part of it, but I sucked it up like a big girl and did it anyway. And I must admit that Say Her Name wasn't as scary as I expected - though I had to read it during the day and away from any mirrors.
Plot
Roberta 'Bobbie' Rowe is not the kind of person who believes in ghosts. A Halloween dare at her ridiculously spooky boarding school is no big deal, especially when her best friend Naya and cute local boy Caine agree to join in too. They are ordered to summon the legendary ghost of 'Bloody Mary': say her name five times in front of a candlelit mirror, and she shall appear... But, surprise surprise, nothing happens. Or does it?
Next morning, Bobbie finds a message on her bathroom mirror... five days... but what does it mean? And who left it there? Things get increasingly weird and more terrifying for Bobbie and Naya, until it becomes all too clear that Bloody Mary was indeed called from the afterlife that night, and she is definitely not a friendly ghost. Bobbie, Naya and Caine are now in a race against time before their five days are up and Mary comes for them, as she has come for countless others before...
Bobbie and Mary
As a horror-hater, I must admit that I know close to nothing about Bloody Mary. I knew you had to say her name a certain amount of times and something would happen, but I never knew that it took five days or that she appears in reflective surfaces such as mirrors - that's some scary stuff.
However, this book was readable for me because Bobbie is such a great narrator. Since Bobbie knows next to nothing about Bloody Mary, you don't need to know anything about it to follow the story. And Bobbie is very realistic, which is a tough thing to do in a story that borderlines on completely crazy.
Even though I don't believe in Bloody Mary, Bobbie's journey to believing and realizing what is happening is slow enough that any reader would start believing it too. She's just like you and me, until she says those words and things go from kinda weird to completely utterly weird. Bobbie doesn't just suddenly get scared or tries to scare everyone - she looks for logical reasons and I think everyone would do that.
Spooky Writing
Of course closely tied to that is James Dawson's writing and it was amazing. I read the book in one day because A. I just couldn't put it down and B. It was so damn easy to read. The sentences are the perfect length, the dialogue is realistic, the teenagers use words that I actually hear teenagers use and he combined all of that with the most original YA topic I have seen in the last few years. I've never read any other books by James Dawson, but they are on my TBR-list after this one.
Scary Factor
The only thing I think might put some readers off is the fact that it's honestly not that scary of a book. I mean, I could read it and my threshold for horror is incredibly low. It spooked me and it definitely made me avoid mirrors for a day, but that was about it. If you are really looking for a super scary horror story, try Stephen King. But if you are looking for some scary elements in a great YA story, Say Her Name is your book.
Rating
So surprisingly, I really enjoyed this book. It was an incredible original story with a great narrator and amazing writing - so it will be my first five stars of the year!
Like this book? Try out the other YA book prize books!
The Golden Prince - Rebecca Dean
RATING: ★★★☆☆
Find it on bookdepository here.
When I was about 18, I went through an intense historical fiction phase. It was all I read and I thought they were the only books I could enjoy. Then I discovered YA and got distracted by so many other books I could read.
But my 2015 resolution is to pick up more historical fiction novels because they always surprise me with how much I love them. Unfortunately, The Golden Prince might not have been the right book to start with.
Starting this review, I must admit that I know almost nothing about prince Edward or the life he had, so I can't comment on the historical accuracy of this particular story. If you are looking for details about this, I suggest you go to the goodreads page, because a lot of reviewers do focus on this.
Plot
Goodreads:
It’s 1912, and seventeen-year-old Prince Edward, England’s Golden Prince of Wales, is feeling the burden of his position. As heir to the greatest throne in the world, he hates the constrictions and superficial demands of his royal life. His father, King George, is a harsh disciplinarian, and his mother, Queen Mary, is reserved and cold. Other than his siblings, he has no friends and despairs at his isolation and loneliness.
However, when unexpected circumstances bring him to Snowberry Manor, home of the four Houghton sisters, his life suddenly seems more interesting. As he secretly spends more time with Lily, the youngest of the girls, he finds himself falling hopelessly in love.
But Lily is not royal, and a thousand years of precedent insist that future Queens of England are of royal blood. Worse, King George reveals he already has a princess in line for Edward to marry. Will the strength of their love be enough or will destiny tear them apart?
A plot as slow as the typical 1912's country day
I loved the idea of a prince meeting a normal girl and falling in love with her - it is basically the premise of all my favourite Disney movies. But with this story, the writing just really let me down. The story was sooooo slow at the beginning. There were six characters introduced and alternating between each one for different events meant that some things just dragged on far too long. I respect authors who try the multiple point of views, but when it slows the story down like this, it just isn't worth it.
The story started to get more interested about 200 pages in. You know the characters, you know their background, and events can really start happening. That last third of the book was gold, but you do have to struggle through 200 pages to get there.
The Houghton girls
Though the summary makes it sound like it's a love story, I warn you to not be fooled. The love story is only part of the story. The narration switches between Edward and Lily (whose main focus is their love for each other), but also between Rose, Marigold and Iris who are Lily's sisters and all have very different lives.
While Iris is also worried about love (more specifically marrying someone), Rose and Marigold have completely other concerns. Rose is a suffragette who is trying to combine country life with fighting for women's rights. Marigold is "loose" (term used in the book) and tries to find a rich, older, influential man to make her happy. Both these sisters go against the mainstream of things and the last thing on their mind is a soppy love story. So if you just want romance - don't read this book. If you're interested in different women from the same time period - then do. I highly enjoyed Rose's suffragette story and it was the surprise of the book for me.
The Prince
However, the book is entitled The Golden Prince, so he should be the main focus of this story, right? Wrong.
Though Prince Edward is the key to a lot of major plot elements to happen, he is one of the most uninteresting characters in the book. Though he narrates quite a bit, he never really has any depth in his story. His main focus is making friends and falling in love and honestly, he does that quiet quickly and carelessly. Though it is clear that the author wanted to show how lonely Edward is, dhe just doesn't explain it enough to really understand his actions. I wish there was more depth to him, because he is completely overshadowed by all the Houghton girls.
Rating
I honestly must admit that I don't really know what to say about this book. It was nothing like I expected: I thought it was a story about Prince Edward's love life. Instead it really was the story of the Houghton girls and Edward was just a semi-uninteresting side character. Added to that, the story also read really slowly for the first part, which made it hard to stick to it. Sorry Golden Prince, but you're not gold for me - three stars.
Something new...
I mentioned in an earlier post how I had another surprise for 2015 and this is it - I joined booktube!
My main focus will stay this blog and writing posts (I'm just so much better at it), but there are certain things that are so much more fun to share in a video - like the #0by16 challenge!
The quality is sucky, because I have no clue how to upload the good quality video on Youtube, but I'll figure that out this year - hopefully!
Salvage - Keren David
RATING: ★★★★☆
People who live in the UK might have heard about the YA Book Prize: it's an award for the best UK young adult book and the winner will be announced in March. However, there is already a shortlist with 10 of the best UK YA books of 2014. Up until March, I will read each of these books (one a week) and post a review - I'm reading the books in the same order as the YA Book Prize twitter account is. This week was the week of Salvage by Keren David.
When I started reading Salvage I was not impressed. It's the story of Cass and Aidan, who both narrate in turn about their lives and what happens to them. For one, I was sure one of them was going to die, because that's basically why double narration in YA was invented. Secondly, I thought they were both pretty bland and boring (especially Cass). However, I was completely wrong. They're not boring, no one dies (spoiler maybe) and this story just completely warmed my heart.
Plot
Goodreads:
Aidan Jones was my brother. But I couldn't really remember his face. I couldn't remember talking to him or playing with him. He was just a gap, an absence, a missing person.
Before she was adopted by a loving family and raised in a leafy Home Counties town, Cass Montgomery was Cass Jones. Her memories of her birth family disappeared with her name. But when her adopted family starts to break down, a way out comes in the form of a message from her lost brother, Aidan. Having Aidan back in her life is both everything she needs and nothing she expected. Who is this boy who calls himself her brother? And why is he so haunted?
I glance at the paper. There's a big picture on the front page. A girl with dark red hair. A girl with eyes that might have been green or they might have been grey. I sit down and stare at Cass, and it is her, it is. My stolen sister.
Aidan's a survivor. He's survived an abusive step-father and an uncaring mother. He's survived crowded foster homes and empty bedsits. His survived to find Cass. If only he can make her understand what it means to be part of his family.
Aidan and Cass
So that summary does a great job of explaining what happens in the book. From there on, it's just one big plot twist after another and I do love myself a good unexpected story.
While I was annoyed by Cass when I started the novel, she really grew on me. She starts off as little miss perfect who is struggling with her parents breaking up. I felt bad for her, but not bad enough to really relate to her - so many people's parents break up, is it really the end of the world? However, as the story progresses, you get to learn more about Cass' life and how her brain works and it makes her so much more relatable. She's a smart girl, trying to cope in a world she doesn't always understand.
Aidan on the other hand kind of made an opposite arc for me. I really liked him at the beginning and started to relate less and less to him as the book went on. He starts off as a guy with an incredibly sad and complicated past. As the book goes on, that past only gets darker and darker. I loved that, but there were some things that didn't really make sense to me (such as his huge fear for a guy named Neal at some point in the story).
You keep on reading
Whether you love Aidan or not doesn't really matter, because the plot is so good that you will have to keep on reading. Every time you think you have the story figured out, there is a new twist that you did not see coming. It makes the 300 pages a breeze to read and I promise you that you won't put it down. Keren David's writing is also so strong that the plot twists are put just at the right times in the novel - you get some room to breathe and enjoy it before being thrown off another cliff in the story.
What I also must mention is that I loved that it was a family story. Most YA books are all about romance and though there is some of that in this story (interracial romance, finally!), the main focus is on how a family heals from certain things that has happened to it. It's original content and it's important young people read those kind of stories too.
Rating
So overall, this was a very good read. It was original and was writing in an amazing style. But, because I couldn't really relate to the two main characters throughout the story, this is another four stars (I have been in a four stars mood this year, haven't I?). This four stars though is a high, high four stars and if I did half stars, it would be four and a half. It's an important book and I highly encourage everyone to read it so you can educate yourself about the importance and influence of family - whatever kind of family that may be.
Like this review? Try these from the other YA book prize books!
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A Song for Ella Grey - David Almond
RATING: ★★★★☆
People who live in the UK might have heard about the YA Book Prize: it's an award for the best UK young adult book and the winner will be announced in March. However, there is already a shortlist with 10 of the best UK YA books of 2014. Up until March, I will read each of these books (one a week) and post a review - I'm reading the books in the same order as the YA Book Prize twitter account is. First up is A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond, which is a week late because I only found the twitter a few days ago.
Sometimes you read a book and you are filled with expectations about the book. You've read on Tumblr how amazing it is, have seen a ton of booktubers talk about it, read about it in the newspaper,.... And sometimes you come to a book with no expectations at all and are completely open to being surprised by a new story.
That was the case for me and A Song for Ella Grey. I'm reading it because it is on the YA book prize shortlist and I must admit that I wouldn't have picked it up if it wasn't on that list. The cover is gorgeous, but the description of the plot is too vague to pull me in.
Plot
Goodreads
"I'm the one who's left behind. I'm the one to tell the tale. I knew them both...knew how they lived and how they died."
Claire is Ella Grey's best friend. She's there when the whirlwind arrives on the scene: catapulted into a North East landscape of gutted shipyards; of high arched bridges and ancient collapsed mines. She witnesses a love so dramatic it is as if her best friend has been captured and taken from her. But the loss of her friend to the arms of Orpheus is nothing compared to the loss she feels when Ella is taken from the world. This is her story - as she bears witness to a love so complete; so sure, that not even death can prove final.
Is anyone else reaction "HUH?", because that was mine. It sounds deep for the sake of being deep and I was very confused by Orpheus being dropped in there. Is it my overdose of Greek mythology or is Ella's Orpheus the one that goes down to Hades and tries to save his wife's life?
Ella and Orpheus : your hipster Greek mythology couple
Turns out that Ella's Orpheus is indeed the very cool version of Greek Orpheus. Ella's friends, including Claire the narrator, are on vacation when a young attractive guys shows up and starts playing his lyre so amazingly that everyone becomes entranced by him. Claire calls Ella and she has a conversation with Orpheus over the phone and as most teenagers do, Ella and Orpheus fall madly in love without knowing a thing about each other.
They even want to get married, though Orpheus never stays in one place for long and seems to have some kind of musical magic. Claire is skeptical of the marriage, but decides to play along. Now, if you know the myth of Orpheus, you can probably imagine how the story will end. But not Claire and Ella. While Claire has some sense of rationality, Ella is completely out of this world. It's justified by saying that "Ella is a dreamer", but really she is just naive and kind of stupid. She acts all mature and intelligent, but makes the worst decisions. Ella is the hipster at Starbucks that runs a Tumblr blog about how life should be and how little art there is in the world - in other words, she's pretty annoying. But a perfect match for Orpheus, who could sit next to her and run a similar blog. He's just as "deep" as she is and is Grease's John Travolta for current 13 year olds.
Claire who?
With two such distinctive and strong personality main characters, narrator Claire kind of falls out of the story. Yes, she narrates the story, but it is really the story of Ella. We know little of Claire, besides that we assume she has some romantic feelings for Ella, but I feel like I knew more about Ella. This was a shame, because Claire has so much potential. She is more realistic, stronger and I would have loved to have seen her figure out what her feelings for Ella are and how to deal with it.
David Almond is as amazing as E. Lockhart
However, what saves this book is the amazing writing. I love writing that is compound and straight to the point, like E. Lockhart's. No words are wasted and yet there is so much information in the story. David Almond masters this writing too, meaning that A Song For Ella Grey reads very similarly to We Were Liars. Even though Ella and Orpheus are annoying, the writing is so beautiful that you don't even notice that you don't like them until you put the book down. I for one read this book in one night and just adored it. The writing takes you on such an immense journey that you'll feel like you're in another world completely. And that's what great books do.
Rating
So the rating for this book is actually kind of hard. While I was reading it, I was sure I would give it five stars; I loved everything about it. It wasn't until the next morning, when I talked it over with my friend, that I realized that a lot of characters in the book are annoying little hipsters and make really dumb choices. I wish the characters would have been more relatable, because with David's writing, this could have been one of the best books I've ever read. It will have to be another four stars, but I can't wait to read more of David's writing.
Landline - Rainbow Rowell
RATING: ★★★★☆
If you know anything about me, or if you have met me even once, you'll know that I love Fangirl. I rave about it all the time.
So when I got the chance to read Landline, Rowell's first 'adult literature' book, I was so excited. And luckily, as usual, Rainbow Rowell didn't disappoint.
Plot
Landline follows Georgie, a working mom who is struggling with finding the balance between work and family. She's married to Neal, who has become a stay at home dad for their two daughters, while Georgie writes scripts for tv-shows. Long days have always been standard, but when Georgie announces that she can't come to Nebraska with her husband to spend Christmas (because she has to work), everything seems to be crumbling.
When Neal and the girls leave, Georgie stays with her mother and uses the landline phone in her old bedroom to call Neal. She desperately tries to reach him, but when she finally does, he is not the Neal from now, but the Neal from when they first started dating.
A magic phone
So if you have read Rainbow Rowell before, like I did, you'll be used to realistic contemporary stories. I urge you to put that idea out of your head when you pick up Landline. It starts off realistically, but then there is a strong element of magic in there that you just have to accept. I spend a chapter or five struggling with the idea that anyone could have a magic phone and it ruined my reading experience. I put the book aside and decided to just roll with it (heck, I read Percy Jackson, a magic phone is nothing) and once I did that, I could thoroughly enjoy the story. It's realistic with elements of magic and Georgie is such a great character that it somehow kinda works.
The struggle of every woman
And Georgie is such a great character, because she is so damn realistic. The main struggle of the story is, like I said, between work and family. I'm still young and without a family, but even I found this a very relatable subject. Girls, from a far too early age, are being told that some day you'll have to chose between a family or a career and what I love about Georgie is that she doesn't. She loves her job and doesn't consider giving it up just so she could be home more. This book does not end in Georgie becoming a housewife - that is not the journey of this book. The journey is finding a balance between what you want and what your family needs and surprisingly enough, Neal makes that journey too.
Rating
It kind of kills me, but I can't give this book five stars. I adored Georgie, Neal and their relationship and even though I haven't focused on Rainbow's writing in this review (I've done that in all the other reviews from her books already) it was absolutely perfect again. But a magic phone? She really lost me there for a few pages, so I can't give it top marks. However, it's an excellent four star book.
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