Month: September 2015

What Would You Like to See?

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ Leave a comment

So I thought I’d do a short post asking your opinions on my blog. Seeing as I’ve gained a lot (relatively – for me!) of new followers recently I wanted to know whether you would like to see anything else? For example some of my creative writing? I don’t know whether to upload it online or not. I don’t mean a lot – just now and again.

To have even one follower on this blog makes me ecstatic. I started this for me, originally as a way to document my time as Young Poet Laureate, which I didn’t actually really do! Now it’s morphed into my main hobby (other than reading and writing, obviously!) and I just want to say thank you to everyone who has followed or viewed this little space of mine on the internet!

🙂

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Ashes – Mario Candelaria and Karl Slominski

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ Leave a comment

ashes cover

Genre: Graphic Novel

Publication Date: August 1st 2015 by Diamond Book Distributors

Format: ARC ebook from Diamond Book Distributors via Netgalley

Matt always had an easygoing life. Girls liked him, his friends were more like family, and being a firefighter came naturally. Then the accident happened. Now, after the loss of his leg, Matt struggles to cope with his new handicap as he attempts to rebuild his shattered family and once budding career. A riveting tale about perseverance, hard work, and overcoming the odds, Ashes is not to be missed.

(from goodreads.com)

I loved the concept of this graphic novel and I was expecting it to be amazing. But it just didn’t deliver. There was so much potential as well, which was what made it so disappointing.

For one thing, I found the images really dark and it was difficult to make some things out. Admittedly this is only the second graphic novel that I have read, however I have others that I have flicked through and they were much clearer. Because of this lack of clarity, I kept getting confused with who was who and following the speech bubbles was difficult too. I do prefer colour images, and colour would have worked really worked in this graphic novel, seeing as it was about a firefighter (I mean fire and bright colours go hand in hand).

The storyline was the part that had the most potential though. I loved the premise and there were so many parts where it could have been heartwarming and heartbreaking but these parts didn’t arrive. It was so frustrating because it wouldn’t have taken a lot more to make it these things. An extra image or page here and there. That’s it. I found things were started in the plot and they just ended before they could really be turned into something worthwhile. There seemed to only be one fully developed event in the middle of the novel whereas everything else was started, proceeded at a nice steady pace, and then was finished with remarkably quickly. The pacing wasn’t consistent is what I’m trying to say, as well the events being left undeveloped. I also didn’t really like the ending, it was a bit underwhelming. I was expecting a more dramatic, interesting conclusion but it just ended. Like that. Again, potential that went unfulfilled.

I disliked the majority of the characters as well. They weren’t relatable in any way and I really struggled to connect with them. It was therefore not enjoyable as I didn’t feel drawn into the story in the way that I usually am. Also the language that was used was vulgar for the most part and although I don’t have an issue with swearing there are times when it, along with crude references, can just be a bit too much. Such was the case in this graphic novel. I understand that it was in language that many people would use to talk to each other but it made it very unpleasant at times to read and I felt it was unnecessary. As I said, I don’t have an issue with swearing, it really doesn’t bother me, except when there is a bit too much.

I just found this book so confusing. There were points when I couldn’t work out what was happening and why and it just wasn’t nice to read at all at times. The problem was I felt that all of this was avoidable. It could have been clear, the plot better developed, the characters a little less vulgar. I guess this just wasn’t my cup of tea (and I like my tea a lot!). The potential was there, but the story wasn’t and this was really disappointing because the premise sounded so interesting and like the kind of story that would have tugged at my heartstrings. There were a couple of points when I felt some emotion towards one or other of the characters, but for the most part I felt that I was just sitting reading it for the sake of reading (and finishing) it.

Rating: 2 / 5.

Ketchup Clouds – Annabel Pitcher

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ Leave a comment

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Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance

First Published: November 2012 by Orion

Zoe Collins has a dark and terrible secret that she dares confess to no one. But the day she hears of a criminal on death row who knows all about secrets. And lies. And betrayal. Desperate to confide in someone, Zoe picks up a pen.

These are the letters that she wrote. 

I want to start by saying I loved Annabel Pitcher’s debut novel My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece. However I did not love this one nearly as much.

The main thing that struck me was the that narrator of this novel spoke / wrote in an extremely juvenile manner. This is also prominent in My Sister. The difference being that the narrator of My Sister is a five year old, whereas in Ketchup Clouds she’s supposed to be a teenager (something I struggled with until GCSEs (I think) / school was mentioned and I finally registered that actually she’s older than she sounds). This style ruined this book for me, if I’m honest, as I found it difficult to take Zoe, the narrator, seriously.

I also found this novel irritating in many ways. First of all, there is the secrecy. I understand that this is part of the story – she doesn’t want to say anything that would incriminate her. However this was just frustrating when reading it. She kept hinting at what she’d done, but it didn’t become clear until the novel was nearly finished and the lead up had been drawn out as much as it could have been. I dislike novels that keep dragging out but hinting at key events though – I remember there was another one that I read not too long ago (but I can’t remember which one it was for the life of me – typical) and I found it irritating too! It’s just something that I can’t take to in books.

I just didn’t like Zoe that much either. I found her too immature, almost childish, not in the way she acted particularly. I don’t know, I can’t really explain it! But there was a juvenile element that I think was prominent because of the narrative voice.

Sometimes I think an epistolary novel can be really successful, and nothing is lost from the story. But I felt a lot was held back due to this form throughout this book – things that could have been included and not ruined the secretive feel (which, although I didn’t particularly enjoy this aspect, I realise that it is part of the story). I did like the different idea of the letters being addressed to someone she doesn’t know however, as this did mean that I could learn more about Zoe, but at the same time she was a very unreliable narrator as for one thing she started by saying she’d given a false name… Leading me, as the reader, to question what part of the story she is telling the ‘truth’ (obviously it’s fiction, but you get what I mean!).

As I mentioned, I felt that the storyline had been dragged out a lot before the ‘event’ is revealed. Thus I found the pace too slow for me, but I do prefer books with a quicker pace as I find it difficult to pick up books where things move slowly or very little happens.

The title has very little relevance to the novel as well. The reference is in relation to her youngest sibling (Dot) and something she does that has very little consequence (I believe) in the novel. Although I think that the title is intriguing, I think that there are so many other, better options. But that’s just personal opinion and I bet many people who have read this book see relevance in that small event and as a result think the title suitable and perfect for the novel.

I think, however, I’d gotten myself too excited to read this book as I’d loved My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece so much, and it let me down. Maybe if I had read this one first I’d have enjoyed it more. I do have a friend who has read this and she really enjoyed it, and it wasn’t a bad book; it just wasn’t to my taste to be honest. I will read more of Annabel Pitcher’s novels when they are released (and when I have money to purchase them!), this hasn’t put me off. But maybe next time I’ll open one with lower expectations than I did Ketchup Clouds.

Rating: 3/5 (I didn’t hate it – I just felt let down by it).

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – Jesse Andrews

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ 7 Comments

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Genre: YA, Contemporary, Humour

First published: March 1st 2012 by Amulet Books

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time—when not playing video games and avoiding Earl’s terrifying brothers— making movies, their own versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don’t make them for other people. Until Rachel.

Rachel has leukaemia, and Greg’s mom gets the genius idea that Greg should befriend her. Against his better judgment and despite his extreme awkwardness, he does. When Rachel decides to stop treatment, Greg and Earl must abandon invisibility and make a stand. It’s a hilarious, outrageous, and truthful look at death and high school by a prodigiously talented debut author.

(from goodreads.com)

The cover and premise had me so excited for this book, I mean, LOOK AT THE COLOURS (Yes, I’ve used the picture I posted on Instagram because I loved how it turned out). How many books are this colourful? I don’t think there’s a colour that isn’t used (unless you’re really picky and start naming shades… Don’t be that person…). I also love books that have a similar premise (i.e. kid with cancer / illness) not in a morbid way, they’re normally profound and brilliant. For example, I loved The Fault in our Stars and I also loved Zac and Mia (review here).

Unfortunately I did not love this one.

It was okay. I liked parts. I particularly liked the structure of it – the use of scripts and the aesthetic both on the inside and outside of this book. I did also, however, find the character of Greg irritating, and Earl just rude. Rachel seemed nice enough, there just wasn’t enough of her in the book, it was very much Greg talking about himself.

I didn’t like the narrative voice. As I’ve said, I don’t like Greg. Okay, I completely understand that some of the things he says are probably true (in other words they’re the things that everybody thinks and nobody wants to say) but I just found his lack of empathy for Rachel irritating. At points it was like he wasn’t even trying. Like I get him not treating her like she’s about to break etc but instead of complaining about having to see her he could at least have been a bit more cheerful for her. Even Earl was nicer than Greg at points and I found Earl to be quite rude most of the time, as he showed pretty much everyone no respect.

Also, I didn’t find this book funny. I can probably count on one hand the amount of jokes that I laughed at. Reading the reviews on goodreads I do realise that a lot of people did find it hilarious, I just really didn’t. I think that may have been because Greg was grating on my nerves so anything he said just annoyed me though! I was expecting it to be humorous because of what people had been saying about it and I was disappointed when I found a lot of the jokes to just be silly comments. If that makes sense.

I felt that the plot lacked something as well. It wasn’t that it was a terrible plot at all (Jesse Andrews’ writing I  found to be very good and the plot was interesting), I just felt that it was missing something. Like there could have been more and it wouldn’t have been too much – it would have made it more interesting. A lot of it was almost the same thing repeated (a lot of the repetition was regarding his film making). I also found it to be quite slow paced, which, because very little (I felt) happened, bored me in places.

Jesse Andrews, however is clearly a very talented writer. I liked the way that his writing was so realistic – it sounded very much like a teenage boy (one I don’t particularly like) would speak. It was quite brutal, but not aggressive – just honest. I do quite like that in writing. I’m not one to sugar coat things myself (after all, you are reading this not quite complimentary review) but I’m not for rudeness either. Just brutal honesty.

I do believe that the reason I didn’t enjoy this book as much was because I had such high expectations, and when I found it didn’t meet those expectations, I was disappointed and didn’t enjoy the rest. Maybe one day I’ll reread it and enjoy it much more because I know what to expect!

I think I would still recommend this book to some people, despite the fact that I didn’t particularly enjoy it. This is because my sense of humour differs greatly from my friends’ (for example I do not find sitcoms funny in the slightest, I just feel awkward watching them as the actors just seem to be making fools out of themselves – but that’s just me, most of my friends find sitcoms hilarious). Back to the point. What I’m saying is that my sense of humour differs from the majority and therefore the majority would probably find this novel humorous and really enjoy it, which is why I’d recommend it. It’s also a super-quick read for a day where you’re doing nothing! And who doesn’t want that gorgeous, vibrant cover on their shelf?

Rating: 3 / 5.

Back to School Book Recommendations

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again… the one that everybody dreads. This year is my final school year (it’s so weird to write that) and it’s going to be hectic! I always read less whilst I’m at school as I usually have a load of homework which simply takes forever and so I have no time to read. However, this year it’s going to be different. I’m going to aim to read a book a week by making time before bed to read as there are so many books on my shelf that look amazing! I do think however, that there are certain books that are better than others when getting back into school. Usually they’re shorter, stand-alones (not always, but often) and lighter reads. So I’m going to recommend a few that I’d say are perfect for this season, and most, if not all, have a school aspect in them as well.

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Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins

Whilst I would agree with pretty much everyone when they say this is a perfect summer read, I would also say that this is a good one for going back to school as it’s super quick to read, lighthearted and it’s set in a boarding school. It’s funny and would be a good book to pick up and read a bit of before bed to relax after a long day of school.

Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell

This follows Cath, who starts college with her sister Wren. This is perfect if you feel that you’re struggling to fit in, or you need a reminder to be yourself. It’s a stand alone with fantastic characters, humour and fan fiction. I read this last year in October time I believe (it was in the Autumn term) so I would definitely recommend this for this time!

Fans of the Impossible Life – Kate Scelsa

Mira is starting at the same school that misfit Jeremy goes to. Sebby, Mira’s friend, sometimes goes to another school, but mostly skips it, meeting Mira when her day is over. This is the story of the friendship Jeremy makes with the two of them as they all struggle to ‘fit in’ at school.

Am I Normal Yet? – Holly Bourne

Evie has had a long time off school due to mental illness and this is her experience of trying to be ‘normal’, which involves starting at college. This book is so, so realistic and had me laughing a lot and I would recommend this at any time of year, but especially now!

Wonder – R. J. Palacio

I recommend this for two reasons. One, it’s amazing. It is such a beautiful story. Two, it is August’s experience of school for the first time. He’s bullied because of the way he looks and he struggles with fitting in but it’s such a lovely story and a really quick read (I read this in one sitting, so even reading a bit a night, it wouldn’t take long to read).

The Harry Potter series – J. K. Rowling

Now what would a school themed post be without a mention of Harry Potter?! As everyone knows, the majority of these books takes place at Hogwarts, a school for Witchcraft and Wizardry. These books are amazing. The first ones I would definitely recommend because they’re lighthearted and funny. The later ones get darker, but they’ll be perfect for those winter months.

There are so many more books that I could have mentioned in this post. I’m tempted to do a part two? I don’t know. I hope this helps if you’re looking for a book to read in this autumnal, back to school season.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire SĂĄenz

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ Leave a comment

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Genre: YA, Contemporary, LGBT fiction

First Published: February 21st 2012 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Dante can swim. Ari can’t. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari’s features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself.

But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other―and the power of their friendship―can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.

This cover is beautiful, the characters are beautiful, the writing is beautiful. This entire book is beautiful.

I don’t know where to start with this book. There are a thousand words and not one does it justice. There is a reason why the cover is covered with awards (though it’s kind of a shame because the cover is so stunning!). It was just amazing.

Taking a moment to think about it, there is not really a plot to this novel. This is not a bad thing. It flowed better than many books I’ve read with well thought out, detailed plots. This book is simple: Two, completely different characters on a journey of self-discovery. Nothing more is needed.

I adored both Aristotle and Dante. Okay, I know that I say “the characters were likeable” or something similar a lot but no. This is different. I wanted to give them hugs and tell them both everything will be alright and sit and chat and chill and watch the stars with them both. (Why are they only fictional?!) They were so different, yet similar, and I loved them both.

I put off buying this book for ages, I don’t know why. I regret it. I read this in less than a day and loved and cherished every poetic word on every single page. It wasn’t particularly fast paced, but it wasn’t slow either – because there isn’t really a plot it just flowed and I didn’t take note of the story pace. I just read.

I loved the focus on family that featured throughout this novel, and also the way Dante’s family accepted Ari even though he had a rougher background and Ari’s family accepted Dante. The love was so clear and honest and I wish that more books would include such caring family relationships because it was a pleasant change from reading about broken families or parents that don’t pay attention to their kids (not neglecting them, just not exactly showering them in affection either).

I must admit, when I first started and realised that it was written from Aristotle’s perspective I was surprised and wondered how it would work well. I think you may be able to tell that I loved this book by now and yes, it worked. It was so much better than I originally anticipated, but so was the story (although I have no idea what I was expecting!).

I feel like I’m running out of words to say about this book (I had very few to begin with). I would heartily recommend this to whoever wants a heartwarming contemporary about two completely different guys, their friendship and loving families.

110 percent 5/5 stars.

My Favourite Books I’ve Read This Summer

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ Leave a comment

This summer has been pretty good in terms of reading. Normally I read loads on holiday and then the 4/5 weeks after I get back I read barely anything but this hasn’t happened this year! As a result, I have a lot (well, a few) of books to choose from and I’m going to pick my five favourites from this summer. (But they’re not in a particular order). I have / will have reviewed these books, so there will be very little information with them (reviews should be linked if they are already published).

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire SĂĄenz

This is such a beautiful book! I absolutely adored it and read it in less than a day. Everything about this book is perfect and if you haven’t already read it, then go and read it.

The Wrath and the Dawn – RenĂŠe Ahdieh

Completely different to things I’d normally read but it was fantastic – the plot was fast paced and interesting and I could picture the setting perfectly.

The Queen of the Tearling – Erika Johansen

This was amazing. I loved it so so much. The attitude of Kelsea kept making me laugh and I particularly liked the relationship she had with her guard.

Am I Normal Yet? – Holly Bourne

This book. Mental health and being a teenager are perfectly summarised. So normal, yet it explains complex and difficult issues clearly.

Extraordinary Means – Robyn Schneider

Every character was completely different in every way, with their own quirks and habits. It also accurately sums up how society reacts to outbreaks of a disease.

The Secret Fire – C.J. Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ 1 Comment

the secret fire cover

Genre: Urban Fantasy, YA, Paranormal

Publication Date: September 10th 2015 by Atom

Format: ebook ARC from Little, Brown Book Group UK via Netgalley  (Thank you!)

French teen Sacha Winters can’t die. He can throw himself off a roof, be stabbed, even shot, and he will always survive. Until the day when history and ancient enmities dictate that he must die. Worse still, his death will trigger something awful. Something deadly. And that day is closing in.

Taylor Montclair is a normal English girl, hanging out with her friends and studying for exams, until she starts shorting out the lights with her brain. She’s also the only person on earth who can save Sacha.

There’s only one problem: the two of them have never met. They live hundreds of miles apart and powerful forces will stop at nothing to keep them apart.

They have eight weeks to find each other.

Will they survive long enough to save the world?

(From goodreads.com) 

Wow. When I started this book, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. I know I wasn’t expecting what was delivered though. But my, was it a good surprise! Although a little slow off the mark, this book was full of action and mystery and it was incredible!

I think I’m going to start off by talking about the plot. So many things happened, I could only just keep up (this was a good thing – I did keep up and it was extremely fast paced). It also took so many unexpected turns that shocked and scared me and kept me wanting to read on and find out what happened next because like, I needed to know. There were a couple of parts which took a more sinister turn which added to the story, but I’m that girl who can’t even listen to horror movie trailers with her eyes shut. I get so jumpy about these things for some reason, so some parts I found a little scary. (The majority of the population will probably find them creepy at most!)

I loved that this novel was set in both England (Oxford and a town I guess isn’t far away) and Paris. This added a depth to the story and made things a bit more complex for the characters due to them being in different countries. I also love Paris (who doesn’t?) but it didn’t just focus on the gorgeous centre, Sacha visited many parts of the suburbs and the areas where tourists don’t get to see, the non-romantic, rougher areas of Paris. This, in my opinion, made it more realistic and believable, as a character like Sacha would not have spent all of his time in the centre. I think that part of this comes from having the two authors, one being french.

The novel focused on two main characters: Sacha and Taylor. I especially liked Taylor as I could identify with her and a lot of the things she said and did (especially the spending a lot of time on her studies and everyone gets annoyed with her). I know some people didn’t like Taylor because of this (reading other reviews on Goodreads) as I guess that not a lot of people study as much as Taylor does but I think I can say that I do prioritise studying and books over a lot of things (and like Taylor I have no regrets!) so I liked having a character I could genuinely relate to as it’s uncommon to have one like this. Sacha I found to be quite an angry character at times but I liked the way he changed as events unfurled and I really did like him as the book progressed.

The focus changed usually after every chapter to the other character, which enabled me to keep up with what was happening to both of them, rather than it being narrated in two separate parts. Both were in third person, which worked well as it allowed descriptions that would have been held back in first person as the character didn’t understand what was going on whereas this could be explained in third.

One thing that I didn’t like was that the other characters in this novel were somewhat underdeveloped. The exceptions being Taylor’s Grandfather and Louisa. Georgie and Tom (Taylor’s boyfriend) were very basic, for want of a better description. Georgie is a strong character, attractive and rarely studies, Tom is basically obsessed with rugby. That’s all I really got. I know they didn’t feature a lot in the story (Georgie more than Tom) but they were important when they did appear and it would have been better if there had been a bit more to them.

The magic that is included in the novel really kept me interested as I find the concept of being able to control energy (or something similar) extremely intriguing in books. I also found the idea that it’s something that has to be refined and doesn’t just come perfectly a nice touch because I’ve read books with similar concepts and the person with the power has just been in control from the moment they realise they have it and I just find that a bit unbelievable (yes, I know, I’m talking about having the power to manipulate energy – because that’s believable, but I’m sure you know what I mean)!

Would I recommend this book? Yes, yes I would. I really enjoyed it, which did surprise me as there were times when I was contemplating putting it down because creepy people appeared (I’ll say no more, don’t worry) and they really freaked me out… As I said, I just can’t deal with horror / anything remotely creepy. (I wouldn’t call this a horror novel at all!) On the other hand, I am going to sit here impatiently waiting for the sequel because I desperately want to know what happens next!

Rating: 4 / 5.

Fans of the Impossible Life – Kate Scelsa

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ 1 Comment

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Genre: YA, Contemporary, LGBT, Mental Health

First Publication Date: September 8th 2015 by Balzer + Bray

Format: ebook ARC received through NetGalley from Pan Macmillan (Thank you!)

Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby.

Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn, it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with mischief glinting in his eye.

Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and impromptu road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives.

As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible.

(From goodreads.com)

First of all, this book includes everything. Mental illness, LGBT themes, drug use, broken families, bullying. Which makes it sound so morbid. Believe me, it wasn’t. This book had me laughing and dealt brilliantly with all of the mentioned issues. The mental illness was included with empathy but it wasn’t sugar coated either, the same goes for the bullying (and everything else really)!

The way that the characters interact is so natural and yet so extraordinary and I really enjoyed this aspect. Some of the things they did were odd (in a quirky, good way!) but nothing was unrealistic! Each one had their own story to tell and each of these stories were told as the book progressed. They stood out in their own right, and I noticed that even the side characters were clearly well thought out and had a background to them (which become clear in the book). A very strong side of this book is the character development. Although at a glance it seems that Jeremy goes through the most development (in my opinion), they all do in reality if you just pause and register it for a moment, particularly the main three. Which is another thing; I liked that there were three main characters – it added variety (as they were all so, so different) and resulted in the story taking all sorts of different twists.

One thing I found to set this book apart from others were the multiple points of view throughout. I know you’re probably questioning me now, thinking “loads of books have multiple viewpoints”. Well, for each character, the narrator was different. In simple (understandable) terms: Jeremy was first person, Sebby was second (this I particularly liked as I am a fan of second person and it really worked in this novel) and Mira was third. This helped me to distinguish easily between each character. I know this has been found confusing by some, but I thought it to be a unique and successful feature. The use of second person especially I found to be an interesting choice. As I’ve said, I particularly like it (I’ve used it in two pieces of creative coursework at school, just to give you an idea of how much I like it) and it was great to see it used in a novel which I do not doubt will be extremely popular. Thankfully it wasn’t overused, and thus it retained the novelty and impact that it was undoubtably supposed to have. I also found Sebby the most difficult to understand and these parts in second person really helped to straighten things out and allowed me insight into his character that no other narrative voice could give.

The plot was fast paced and exciting, even when negative things happened to the characters. As I said, the issues I mentioned were incorporated well and without glamourising them, as some books do. This book took a realistic stance, and though not blunt, it spoke about things plainly and simply and I appreciated that, as I’m sure many others will too. Issues of sexuality and acceptance, mental illness and bullying, should be incorporated more into YA novels (and others too, not just YA) and this book, I believe, is proof that several of these can be included – not just one – and result in a novel with a rawness and depth that is difficult to achieve.

I’m sure you can tell that I adored this book. The characters were each special and individual, with their own quirks and mannerisms, and I really appreciated this as I read it. There was a surprising amount of humour included and quite often I’d find myself giggling (usually at Sebby’s antics)! I would definitely recommend this book because it was incredible and I honestly loved it so, so much! I cannot wait for more from Kate Scelsa!

Rating: 5 / 5.

My September TBR

~ Natalie Cotterill ~ Leave a comment

To add to the “Top 3 Books of Whatever Month Just Passed” (Obviously the month is named) monthly thing I plan to do on here, I’m also going to write a “TBR” post in the early days. I’m very much a mood reader, so I’m not saying for certain that these are the books that I’ll read, but they’ll be the ones I’m most eager to get to. I think I’ll probably only list about 2-4 depending on how I’m feeling (like whether there are any books I definitely want to read or I’m just going with the flow).

So, for the month of September, I’m listing five (six if I include rereading Hamlet for school). This is possibly too optimistic as I’m going back to school and it’s going to be hectic. But one of these books is for school!

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(I couldn’t take a photo of all of the ebooks so I used one I took for Instagram of Fans of the Impossible Life)

  1. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (this one is for school)
  2. Fans of the Impossible Life (ARC) – Katie Scelsa
  3. The Secret Fire (ARC) – C. J. Daugherty, Carina Rozenfeld
  4. Ryan Revisited – Sam Davis
  5. Shadows – Paula Weston

All of these are ebooks (Hence no picture!) as four of them I was lucky enough to receive from publishers through Net Galley. The Handmaid’s Tale I just already owned as an ebook. What books do you plan to get around to reading this month? I hope to read all of these, or at least four books (my mind will probably change as to which I want to read next).