angelreads, Author at Angel Reads

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Mini Reviews: Changing Yourself and Striving for Gold

Apr 23, 2017

Mini reviews are a great way to give some of my thoughts on a book that I didn’t love but still wanted to talk about. These two books are totally different, ones about changing who you are and it going horribly wrong, while the other is about believing in yourself. Let’s get into it.
Charisma by Jeanne Ryan

Pages: 386
Publish date: December 1st, 2017
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471163938
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

A chance at the ultimate makeover means deadly consequences… Aislyn suffers from crippling shyness – that is, until she’s offered a dose of Charisma, an underground gene therapy drug guaranteed to make her shine. The effects are instant. She’s charming, vivacious, and popular. But strangely, so are some other kids she knows. The media goes into a frenzy when the disease turns contagious, and then deadly, and the doctor who gave it to them disappears. Aislyn must find a way to stop it, before it’s too late.

Charisma:

I received a copy of Charisma by Jeanne Ryan from Simon and Shuster in exchanged for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I didn’t know what to expect when picking Charisma up. I haven’t read Nerve or even watched the movie, but I was intrigued by the storyline and wanted to see. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would – and my expectations weren’t high, to begin with.

Charisma follows protagonist Aislyn who suffers from crippling shyness. It’s so bad that sometimes she can’t even make if through the day. So when she is given the opportunity to change that, she takes it up. But, when other teens start falling into comas and some even dying – things are turned on their head.

I am not sure how I feel about Aislyn as a protagonist. I enjoyed aspects of her character and I liked where she came from. But, then at times, she sounded whiny, per say. I loved that she cared so much for her brother – it was beautiful actually. And even though her life was not going well, she wanted what was best for her brother.

The romance was nice. I enjoyed how it moved and even thought it was slightly instalovey at times, it was cute. They both cared for one another and tried to help each other through the hard times.

Another aspect of the book that I didn’t like was the use of shyness. I didn’t see what Aislyn had as shyness but as anxiety. Especially social anxiety. And I didn’t like the fact that it was ‘fixed’ like it was a bad thing. The way that people treated her – it’s my worst nightmare. And the fact that she was magically better – yer no thank you.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy Charisma. There were parts that I did like and wanted to know more about. But, on the whole, it wasn’t just for me.

Gold Rush by Jennifer Comeaux

Pages: 388
Publish date: January 9th, 2017
Publisher: –
ASIN: B01MSV3XON
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Will love wait for gold?

Liza Petrov’s entire life has been about skating and winning her sport’s top prize – Olympic gold. She’s stayed sheltered inside her bubble, not daring to stray from her destined path.

Until she meets Braden Patrick.

He makes her heart flutter with possibility, and for the first time, she gets a taste of a normal teenage life. She longs to have both the boy and the gold, but stepping outside her bubble comes with a price. As Liza begins to question both her future and her past, can she stay focused on the present and realise her ultimate dream?

Gold Rush:

I received an e-copy of Gold Rush by Jennifer Comeaux via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I’ve read a couple of books by Jennifer Comeaux in her world of figure skating before picking this one up. So I had an idea of how the world worked and had a little insight into some of the characters.

Gold Rush follows protagonist Liza Petrov as she trains for gold. Her whole life she has always wanted one thing – to win gold at the Olympics and it’s getting close. But, because of her training, she missed out of some ‘normal’ teen adventures – like falling in love. However, with everything one the line, will she let herself fall in love?

On the most part, I enjoyed Liza as a protagonist. She was determined and stood strong. She has trained her whole life for this moment and when she starts to fall it hurts her. I liked that she wasn’t this person who could do no wrong.

At first, the romance wasn’t hitting the right spots for me, but as the novel went on I slowly started loving Liza and Braden together. Braden was adorable and I loved that he would do quite a bit for Liza. The reader is able to see how much he cares for her.

Family is a big theme in Gold Rush and while times they were adorable with one another. Their overprotectiveness caused Liza a lot of problems. I felt that at times her family just took over everything and Liza was left helpless.

Overall, Gold Rush was a fun read. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline, but there was something missing that kept me from loving this one. Gold Rush explores the notion of family and finding love. It explores finding yourself and believing in yourself. I need to get onto reading the other books in this world.

I hope youy enjoyed these mini reviews and want to see more in the future. Have you read Charisma or Gold Rush? What did you think of them? Are you planning on reading them? Have you read anything else by these authors? Let’s Chat!

Book Review: The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein

Apr 22, 2017

The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein

Pages: 416
Publish date: May 5th, 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 1408866617
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

Before Verity . . . there was Julie.

When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she’d imagined won’t be exactly like she anticipated. And once she returns to her grandfather’s estate, a bit banged up but alive, she begins to realise that her injury might not have been an accident. One of her family’s employees is missing, and he disappeared on the very same day she landed in the hospital.

Desperate to figure out what happened, she befriends Euan McEwen, the Scots Traveller boy who found her when she was injured, and his standoffish sister Ellen. As Julie grows closer to this family, she experiences some of the prejudices they’ve grown used to firsthand, a stark contrast to her own upbringing, and finds herself exploring thrilling new experiences that have nothing to do with a missing-person investigation.

Her memory of that day returns to her in pieces, and when a body is discovered, her new friends are caught in the crosshairs of long-held biases about Travellers. Julie must get to the bottom of the mystery in order to keep them from being framed for the crime.

The Pearl Thief:

I received an earc of The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein from Bloomsbury Australia via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I was really looking forward to The Pearl Thief. I’ve been wanting to read Code Name Verity for some time. But when I heard there was going to be a prequel, I thought it was the best way to start. Sadly, I was disappointed. It wasn’t what I expected to be and with so much hype around this world and the author I was looking for something more. While it wasn’t what I was expecting, I also didn’t hate it and enjoyed aspects of the book.

The Pearl Thief follows fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart who after waking up in the hospital is trying to fill in the gaps. In the meantime, she meets some new people and they take her on a journey that changes her life and who is really she. With her memory coming back in pieces, will she be able to remember what happened to her before it’s too late?

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Julia as a protagonist. There were parts where I did enjoy her as a character. I loved when she was able to stand up for herself and others. She has this allure about her that I did enjoy, especially for a girl of her time. However other times I found her; bland. I am not how to put it, but I wasn’t interested in her story at times. She just wanted to kiss everyone. And while at times this isn’t bad, she doesn’t even remember what got her to the hospital.

The romance aspects of The Pearl Thief were enjoyable. Although Julia did kiss a fair few people throughout the short span of the book. There was one relationship that I really did enjoy. I don’t want to spoil it overly, but it was something different, especially for a historically based novel.

The notion of family was a big aspect of The Pearl Thief. Not as much as the interaction of family, but what it means and where you come from were. I really enjoyed Julia’s interaction between her brothers. I loved that they cared for one another, and would do a lot of each other. But, we also saw how money and family status influence what happens in the world and how you are treated.

The mystery elements of The Pearl Thief were totally there. I didn’t guess what was happening at all – which is fantastic. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Or what was going to trigger Julia into remembering something about the incident. It was really good.

I also liked the plot of The Pearl Thief, however, I felt that parts were far to dragged on and I was totally bored. There were pages that I wanted to skip and find out some more or for something to happen. I did enjoy the incorporation of pearl finding – that was a nice touch.

Overall, The Pearl Thief was just an okay read. It explores the notion of a girl in her time and where she stands. It explores family and friendship and standing up for what you believe in. There was the mystery, romance and beautiful friendships. I hope that I will be able to read more of Wein’s books soon and hope that the hype stands true.

Have you read The Pearl Thief? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? Have you read anything else by Elizabeth Wein? What did you think? Let’s Chat!

Discussion: Disability on Covers

Apr 20, 2017

If you’ve followed me for a while you might know that I am very vocal about disability in YA. I want it front and centre. I want people to read about it, to understand, to gain something and take it with them. A couple of months ago I wrote about living with chronic pain and shared posts through Disability Diaries. You may also know that Ely over at Tea and Titles also has a passion for disability in novels. And as well as being my best friend we love to share our passion together.

So today we thought we would share our thoughts on a few covers of books that delve into disability. This may be the protagonist or even someone very close to them. We wanted to see how publishers present disability on the book cover or even at all. We’ve split this one up so don’t forget to check out Tea and Titles for more.

Welcome Ely! Thank you so much for coming here and chatting with me about this. Do you want to talk quickly about yourself and why you are passionate about disability representation in literature?

As Angel said, I’m Ely and I blog over at Tea & Titles. I was born with a mobility disability that affects me almost every day, and I also have diabetes and anxiety. Growing up, the only fictional character who I could connect to was Nemo from Finding Nemo because he had a bad fin/leg like I did. Because of that, I’m very passionate about getting more disability into literature, especially YA. I’m currently writing my thesis on the representation of disability in YA so it’s all I think about at the moment.

Thank you for sharing Ely. If you couldn’t tell already a lot of our talks do end about disability in YA. So let’s get started.

The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen

Let’s get started with this one. Both of us have read it and really enjoyed it, however the cover doesn’t tell us about about the book in a disability sense. The female protagonist has recently been confined to a wheelchair after an accident and while can use crutches, she will have a mobility disability for the rest of her life. However, that isn’t portrayed here on the cover. What do you think Ely?

I have to agree with you. When I saw the cover, I had no idea that the book was about disability at all. To me, it just looked like a cute summery contemporary and it was only when I read the blurb that I found out about that aspect. It’s such a huge part of the book that I’m actually really disappointed that it’s not on the cover at all, especially because I feel like disability is portrayed really well in the book.

Totally agree with you. And also that the disability plays such a big part in the novel itself with the protagonist coming to terms with everything that has happened. Also check out Ely’s review on The Year We Fell Down.

Aw, thanks Angel <3 I think it’s important to note that both main characters are disabled—one permanently and the other temporarily, so you’d think there would be even the smallest nod to it.

Tone Deaf by Olivia Rivers

Now this is an interesting one. Just by the title you have an understanding that this book is going to focus on deafness and well it does. And I love that the cover incorporates it without really trying. The contrast of the concert scene with the noise recognition. It’s smart. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’ve read This is What Goodbye Looks Like by this author and that makes me excited. What do you think of this cover Ely?

Having never heard of this book before, I have to say that I don’t hate the cover. Usually I wouldn’t pick it up because of the pretty stereotypical concert picture going on there, but the title draws me in. Even more than that, the soundwaves between the two words makes me feel pretty exciting for it actually. I can’t think of another book that looks at deafness with a cover like this, can you Angel?

As you said it’s a pretty generic concert image, but no I can’t think of once that also has to do with deafness. It’s small and if you didn’t know about the book you might miss it, but it works in way.

Highly Illogical Behaviour by John Corey Whaley

This one is a difficult one to talk about. While it’s not in your face, I can see how it would work to represent agoraphobia. All the different colours and how the lines are going different ways. All over the place – It’s like how you could feel. Being throw from one side to the other. Your mind everywhere all at once. Is that how you see it Ely?

Yes, but I also see it as connections—kind of like one of those crime things you see in TV where they have string going across the room, but in someone’s brain. As in, it’s like your brain is making all these connections to things. The way I see it is in anxieties and fears, if you do this thing then this is what could happen, or if you don’t do this thing and so on. Does that make any sense?

Totally makes sense and totally agree. It’s a way of connecting the dots and how your brain works in a way. How it makes sense of everything that is thrown at it.

***

As you can see from this post disability isn’t represented a whole lot on YA covers. Which is upsetting to say the less. You have to really and make your own interpretation of what is being presented. I don’t know why publishers don’t have disability front and center, but I do wish it was there more. What would you love to see more of Ely?

Personally, I’d love to just see more disability in all aspects of publishing. It’s still very rare that a book that features disability, and even when they do they are often pushed aside by bestsellers. I think everyone can think of a few bestsellers with little to no diversity in at all. I hadn’t realise before this post, but I’m sad that disability is featured so little on covers. We need disability on covers of disability books!

Could not agree with you more. Over the past year or so I have seen it more, but not nearly enough and it’s frustrating at times. There are so many disabilities in the world and so many people suffer – so why not have a good representation in the YA world.

Thank you Ely for joining me here on Angel Reads and don’t forget to check out Ely’s post where we talk more about disability on covers. I hope that you enjoyed this post and feel as passionate as we do about more disability on YA covers.

Thanks for always letting me rant about disability, Angel. I can’t wait for our next hundred conversations about it!

Have you seen a cover where disability is presented well? Can you think of any where it’s not even there or showed in a horrible way? Let’s Chat!