Book Reviews Archives - Page 49 of 115

Book Review: Say You’ll Remember Me by Katie McGarry

Jan 27, 2018

Say You’ll Remember Me by Katie McGarry

Pages: 400
Publish date: January 30, 2018
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
ISBN: 9780373212378
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

When Drix was convicted of a crime–one he didn’t commit–he thought his life was over. But an opportunity came with the new Second Chance Program, the governor’s newest pet project to get delinquents off the streets, rehabilitated and back into society. Drix knows this is his chance to get his life back on track, even if it means being paraded in front of reporters for a while.Elle knows she lives a life of privilege. As the governor’s daughter, she can open doors with her name alone. But the expectations and pressure to be someone she isn’t may be too much to handle. She wants to follow her own path, whatever that means.

When Drix and Elle meet, their connection is immediate, but so are their problems. Drix is not the type of boy Elle’s parents have in mind for her, and Elle is not the kind of girl who can understand Drix’s messy life.

But sometimes love can breach all barriers.

Fighting against a society that can’t imagine them together, Drix and Elle must push themselves–Drix to confront the truth of the robbery, and Elle to assert her independence–and each other to finally get what they deserve.

Say You’ll Remember Me:

I received an e-arc of Say You’ll Remember Me by Katie McGarry from Harlequin Teen in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

If you have been around for a couple of years, you would know that I love Katie McGarry books. I’ve read every single one of hers up to this moment, and really enjoy all of them. I am a massive fan of the ways that she deals with characters and their lives. And Say You’ll Remember Me is heartbreaking, beautiful and just hits you in the right places.

Say You’ll Remember Me follows Drix a convicted teen who is now part of the Second Chance Program. When Drix was convicted of a crime that he didn’t commit he thought his life was over. But with this second chance, he wants to take. He wants to do something right with this life. Then he meets Elle and something about her changes Drix. But he also changed Elle. Elle’s a governor’s daughter and has had her life handed to her, but when she wants to do something more.

Say You’ll Remember Me had a really interesting concept. A lot of Katie McGarry’s novels deal with teens that are on the outside, that are pushed away by society. Drix has been convicted a crime that he didn’t commit, but no one knows that. It was really hard throughout the novel to see the hardship that Drix had to go through. He wants to do so well, but society is pushing him away. They want him to fail.

I really enjoyed Drix as a protagonist in Say You’ll Remember Me. His not the usual protagonist that you see in young adult novels and I think that’s why I really enjoyed him. Throughout the novel, the reader is able to see that Drix will do anything for his family, for those that he loves. He will even tear himself apart so that his family can get what he wants. I loved Drix’s honesty throughout the book as well. Not so much with his family, but with himself.

I thought I wasn’t going to like Elle. I thought she was going to be a spoilt rich kid – but she wasn’t. Getting to know Elle’s story was fascinating. I loved that she was into coding and wanting to follow her own path. But she had this pressure not only from her family but the public around her. She was a ‘star’ and ‘beauty’ in their eyes. It was hard to see Elle try and be another person, while also trying to do the things that she loves. A lot of teens have pressure to look a certain way because of society and Elle is full of that. She wants to make everyone happy, just like Drix.

I really enjoyed the romance between Drix and Elle. While it was slow, from the start the reader is able to see that they enjoy each other company and like each other. But, there is so much standing in their way. It was really hard seeing Drix and Elle push each other away for various reasons. You could see that they cared for one another, but understood that sometimes life gets in the way.

Family is a massive theme in Say You’ll Remember Me. Both of Drix and Elle don’t have the best family life and it really shows throughout the book. Drix’s relationship with his parents is barely there, they do more bad than good. Now the only family he has is with his brother and sister. I really enjoyed seeing them bond and rebuild their relationship with one another. Elle’s relationship with her parents is very stressed. They expect so much from her, without asking Elle want she wants.

Overall, Say You’ll Remember Me by Katie McGarry is intense and takes you on a journey. It’s heartbreaking and uplifting. It explores family, social standards and second chances. With classic Katie McGarry romance Say You’ll Remember Me is an exploration of teen love and it’s ups and downs.

About the Author

Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie is the author of full-length YA series, Pushing the Limits and Thunder Road. Her debut YA novel, Pushing the Limits was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine’s 2012 Reviewer’s Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick.

Book Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Jan 22, 2018

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Pages: 384
Publish date: January 2, 2018
Publisher: Hot Key Books (Allen and Unwin)
ISBN: 9781471407031
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

The Cruel Prince:

I received an arc of The Cruel Prince by Holly Black from Allen and Unwin in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I’ve only read a couple of Holly Black’s books before picking up The Cruel Prince and while I enjoy the books before, I adored The Cruel Prince. From the very first page, I was entranced with the fae world that Holly created. Second, guessing everything and not knowing what was going to happen next. I’m not sure if my review will do this book justice.

The Cruel Prince follows protagonist Jude ten years after she and her sisters witness their parents murder, kidnapped and taken to the fae world. Now they live in the High Court of Faerie and in a world that doesn’t accept them. Jude doesn’t fit into the fae world and the fey don’t let her forget it. With the current King ready to step down, things are about to get more dangerous in the world that Jude lives.

One of my favourite things about The Cruel Prince was Jude. While she isn’t the most likeable protagonist out there, her voice and perseverance – just made the book. Jude is such an interesting protagonist and like most characters in the book, you don’t know what to believe. She has gone through a lot. Her parents were murdered in front of her, she lives with the murdered and is taken to a foreign world.

Her strength was a really big theme of the whole book. I loved seeing Jude stand up and be strong, no matter what was throw at her. And gosh she was pushed hard. At times it was really hard to read some of the things that Jude went through. What got me through it was Jude herself. I loved seeing another strong female character not only be challenged physically but mentally.

Jude’s family. There isn’t much I can say here without spoiling anything. But what I hoped wouldn’t happen did and that broke my heart. You can see that Jude does care for her sisters and what went down was so damn hard. It’s also a really interesting concept of family. She has her sisters, yes. However, she also lives with the man that killed her parents. It was intriguing to see the dynamic of this.

The Cruel Prince is filled with unreliable characters and it was fantastic! Seriously, I didn’t know what was going to happen next, because I didn’t know who to trust. Holly Black made her characters do things that I thought she would never do. You think one character is your friend and then bam! It’s not something that you get in YA and it was different to see.

Another thing that I loved about The Cruel Prince was the world. It’s fantastic and pulls your right in. Holly Black created a lot of layers in this world, with the basics of fae laws. I really enjoy that as it’s a great way to compare and contrast to other fae worlds. While at the start of The Cruel Prince it took me a little to get into the world, it wasn’t long before I was in love.

As I’ve said before, I had no idea what was going to happen throughout The Cruel Prince. You think something is going to happen and then it doesn’t. Then you think ‘oh she won’t do this’ and it does. It takes you on a world wind of emotions.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Cruel Prince. It’s addicting, dark and messes with your emotions. It’s a world of court intrigue and the conflict between fae and humans. It explores the notion of being human and the emotions that come with it. It’s fast-paced with many twists and turns that throw you off. The Cruel Prince has set up a fantastic new series for Holly Black.

Book Review: The Treatment by C.L. Taylor

Jan 13, 2018

The Treatment by C.L. Taylor

Pages: 299
Publish date: October 22, 2017
Publisher: HQ Australia Teen
ISBN: 9780008240561
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

“You have to help me. We’re not being reformed. We’re being brainwashed.”
All sixteen-year-old Drew Finch wants is to be left alone. She’s not interested in spending time with her mum and stepdad and when her disruptive fifteen-year-old brother Mason is expelled from school for the third time and sent to a residential reform academy she’s almost relieved.Everything changes when she’s followed home from school by the mysterious Dr Cobey, who claims to have a message from Mason. There is something sinister about the ‘treatment’ he is undergoing. The school is changing people.Determined to help her brother, Drew must infiltrate the Academy and unearth its deepest, darkest secrets.Before it’s too late.

The Treatment:

I received an arc of The Treatment by C.L. Taylor from Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I am always up for reading a crime/mystery novel. I love the thrill of reading, not knowing what is going to happen next. Where something new could happen right around the corner. There aren’t many of those types of books in YA. And while The Treatment by C.L. Taylor wasn’t my favourite book out there, I still really enjoyed it.

The Treatment follows sixteen-year-old Drew as she tries to live her life without her younger brother Mason, who’s been sent to a reform school. But when she receives a message from him saying his in trouble, she will stop at nothing to save him. But how could she save Mason, when she can’t even save herself.

Drew was a hard character to get along with. For the main part I enjoyed her, however, throughout the novel, it was hard to like her. Drew wore her emotions on her sleeve and while that not be bad, it did get her into trouble a lot. Because of this attitude and her stubbornest, I felt that she got herself into situations that could have been prevented.

In saying that, I loved that Drew cared so much about her brother – and she would stop at nothing to save him. C.L. Taylor was able to show this love and that Drew would do some crazy things to get Mason back.

One of the things that The Treatment does have is girl on girl hate. I know a lot of people don’t like it in books. And while I don’t love it, I do think it’s necessary at times. Bullying and hate are very much present in this world and to shy away from that in books aren’t right. Readers need to know behaviours that are wrong and how they can hurt others. It also showed how horrible girls can be to one another.

The Treatment was an intense book. I didn’t really know what was going to happen next and it kept me reading on. While there were parts that I did guess, I was shocked by other things that happened. So that was really enjoyable.

It’s really hard to review this book without giving so much away, plot-wise. But it was really interesting to see the inside of a ‘reform school.’ Who was in there, what they did to change these teens? I liked seeing the interaction between these kids. And while they didn’t actually do horrible life threating things, it was interesting to see why they were there.

While I did enjoy the plot of the book, I wasn’t a massive fan of the writing style. I’m not sure what it was. Maybe it was Drew’s voice that didn’t sit with me well. But it did put a damper on the book and my enjoyment of it.

The ending of The Treatment also felt very rushed to me. It was like the reader was getting into the thick of things and then bam it’s the end. And while I don’t mind open endings, because of how rushed the last part of the book was. It didn’t feel complete. There were so many things left unanswered or brushed by.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Treatment by C.L. Taylor. It was an interesting and kept me on edge throughout the novel. The plot was gripping and I wanted to always know what was going to happen next. The Treatment explores family and what you would do for them. Corrupt systems and how not everything is how it seems. If you like intense, mystery novels then The Treatment is for you.

Have you read The Treatment by C.L. Taylor? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? What are some of your favourite crime YA novels? Let’s Chat!