3.5 Stars Archives - Page 15 of 16

Book Review: Modern Monsters by Kelley York

Jun 5, 2015

Modern Monsters by Kelley York

Pages: 352
Publish date: 2 June 2015
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
ISBN: 1633750027
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Vic Howard never wanted to go to the party. He’s the Invisible Guy at school, a special kind of hell for quiet, nice guys. But because his best friend is as popular as Vic is ignored, he went…

And wished he hadn’t.

Because something happened to a girl that night. Something terrible, unimaginable, and Callie Wheeler’s life will never be the same. Plus, now Callie has told the police that Vic is responsible. Suddenly, Invisible Vic is painfully visible, on trial both literally, with the police, and figuratively, with the angry kids at school. As the whispers and violence escalate, he becomes determined to clear his name, even if it means an uneasy alliance with Callie’s best friend, the beautiful but aloof Autumn Dixon.

But as Autumn and Vic slowly peel back the layers of what happened at the party, they realize that while the truth can set Vic free, it can also shatter everything he thought he knew about his life…

Modern Monsters:

I received an e-copy of Modern Monsters by Kelley York from Entangled teen via Netgalley for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

Modern Monsters isn’t like something that I have read before. It’s hard to read, gripping and eye-opening. Modern Monsters tells the story of everyone’s worst nightmare for more than one person.

Modern Monsters follows Vic Howard, the invisible guys. Not literally, but the guy that doesn’t have many friends, the one that you see in the background. People talk to him, but not because they like, just so they can invite his best friend Brett to parties and Vic is their way in.

Vic also has a stutter, and I think it’s fantastic! I love diverse characters and books and the main protagonist having a stutter is perfect. You are unable to detect it when he is telling the story, but when he is speaking, it’s all out in the open.

Vic never wanted to go to the party, but after being convinced by Brett and lying to his mum on the way he ends up at a party that would change his life forever.

There are a lot of books out there that tell the story of the person that was raped or even the rapist, but there are very few novels out there that follow, the life of the person being accused of rape.

Vic was doing the right thing and I wish all guys were like this. He saw a girl throwing up, decided to help her and suffered consequences of a good deed. Callie Wheeler’s life changed forever that night, but so did Vic’s.

Modern Monsters takes the reader on a journey of suffering. For most of his life, no one knew who Vic was by name, but now everyone knows. All I wanted to do was give him a big hug.

It was so hard to read, not because of the subject per say, but just what happened around. Not only did Callie had to suffer, but so did Vic and it was heartbreaking. Not only did people who never knew him judge believe what had happened, but people that he loved and care about as well. And that was the hardest to read, because the person that you relied on the most turned their back on you.

“Just because one person is going through something painful doesn’t mean what you’re experiencing is somehow less relevant”

As everything starts to escalate and his life slowing falling apart, Vic is determined to clear his name and this is what I loved the most. He didn’t hid away and let whatever happen, happen. He stood up and start to unpeel the layers that surrounded the party.

With the help and Callie’s, best friend Autumn, they find out everything is what it seems. Callie doesn’t remember everything from the party, she was drunk and the last thing that she remembers before she passed out was Vic. But as all three of them start putting things together, everything because more unclear.

I did guess who raped Callie, and I didn’t mind it. York left enough clues here and there for the reader to pick up the pieces and it was haunting discovery, especially what happens after.

The relationships throughout Modern Monsters are like roller coasters, there are many ups and downs.

York is a brilliant writer. She manages to capture such a hard topic to talk about, and make it somewhat easy to read. I would have loved more character development and less hints of what happened and other events that unfolded (that I don’t want to talk about, because it will spoil, a very important aspect of the story.

Modern Monsters is beautiful, heartbreaking and moving read that if you are looking for something different, then pick this book up without a second thought.

Have you read Modern Monsters yet? Did you like it? Are you going to?

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Book Review: The Secrets Between You and Me by Shana Norris

Mar 24, 2015

The Secrets Between You and Me by Shana Norris

Pages:247 (ebook)
Publish date: Feburay 10th 2015
Publisher: The Studio, a Paper Lantern Lit imprint
ISBN: 9780988450936
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

4 wheels on a rusty truck * 2 gray eyes * 1 secret that could ruin everything…

All Hannah wanted was a summer break from being “perfect Hannah Cohen” and a chance to forget about the devastating family secret that could ruin her seemingly perfect life. So when she takes off for her eccentric aunt’s house in the mountains of North Carolina and everyone makes one big (wrong) assumption about her past, Hannah figures that it’s easier to live a lie than have to face the truth.

She never expected to make any real friends, like the hilarious and spontaneous Kate and Ashton, who drag her to late night bonfires and ice cream marathons. And she especially never counted on meeting Jude Westmore, the brooding bad boy next door with gray eyes and permanent oil smudges on his fingers, or that he would ever take an interest in her.

Between moonlit movie nights in the bed of Jude’s truck and nearly romantic Ferris Wheel rides, Hannah’s old life seems father away then ever, but can she keep her secret, or is the truth worth the risk of losing everything, including Jude?

The Secrets Between You and Me

I received a copy of The Secrets Between You and Me by Shana Norris through Net Galley, this has in no way influenced my opinion on the book.

I read this on a whim, I was going through Net Galley and The Secrets Between You and Me. I did not realise that it was a companion to another novel but it in no way hindered my thoughts or confused me in any way.

Hannah is the protagonist of The Secrets Between You and Me and sometimes in contemporary novels I don’t have a nice relationship with the female protagonist but Hannah, my heart broke for her.

She puts on this façade that protects her, but she doesn’t always want to be this ‘perfect’ human that everyone makes her out to me. She holds a devastating family secret that is haunting her. All she wants to do is forget all this.

So when she goes away to her aunts for the summer, where everyone makes an incorrect assumption about her past, she goes along with it.

Hannah never thought that she would make real friends and I think that is in most teen girl’s heads. They think that the will ‘fit in’ but like Hannah finds out that is not always the case. It’s nice sometimes to read contemporary, because it’s real.

Even though I liked the plot of The Secrets Between You and Me I didn’t love Shana Norris writing. It was good don’t get me wrong, but I was just waiting for more.

Kate and Ashton are two spontaneous and quite enjoyable characters that befriend Hannah on her summer journey. They added something to the story that put a big, fat smile on my face.

Then there is Jude and let me tell you, I want this man in my life, he is incredible. He has this tough exterior that masks his hurt, and that he does need someone to help him.

His and Hannah’s relationship is adorable and cute and heartbreaking, it’s real.

The Secrets Between You and Me is not just about love and friendship but about family and that sometimes families are not perfect like they are in movies, most are broken and Hannah’s is no different. They all old their secrets and it’s tearing the family into tiny specks of dust.

Even though I didn’t like Shana Norris’ writing all that much, she does know how to capture emotions. I felt everything that Hannah felt, everything that Jude felt. It was uplifting at times and tragic at others, but at a whole the emotions evoked by Norris are captivating.

Yes I may have not liked the writing style, but I did love the plot, characters and emotions of The Secrets Between You and Me. Yes the story line may be clique but it was done well in my opinion. But I won’t be reading the companion simply because the story lines makes me want to cry and not for a good reason.

To finish on a good note, The Secrets Between You and Me is an enjoyable read, that will hook you by the plot. It’s emotional from start to finish.

Have you read The Secrets Between You and Me? Are you going to read it?

Book Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

Apr 29, 2014

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
Genre: Young Adult, Time Travel, Science Fiction
Pages: 256 (Kindle Edition)
Publish date: April 8th
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0385736800
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

The Here and Now

I received an e-arc of The Here and Now from Delacorte Press through Netgalley. This is no way has influenced my review.

I didn’t really know what to expect going into reading The Here and Now, simply because I have never read a time travel book before this. I was slightly disappointed.

At the start I was just really confused with what was going on. I was also pretty bored. Maybe it was because I didn’t understand it, but it really did stop me from reading it. It also put me into a major reading slump, which I really didn’t want on my school holidays. The start was also really slow.

Like I said, I was really confused at the start. I just could not get into it at all. About maybe 40% through things for me started to get a little more interesting and things flowed a whole lot better. I really got into the story and wanted to know what was going to happen and what was going on.

In saying that, I loved the writing. It really was beautiful and made the novel that much more intriguing.

I really enjoyed Preena. She was really interesting and intriguing. I liked her a loy. She isn’t the most popular girl, but, to me, she stands out. She starts to think outside the box and questions all the things that she thought were true and it really drove me to keep on reading. I do feel bad for her. Not only did she has time travel, but in her old life she lost too many things and I think that they haunt her in a certain way that she doesn’t even know.

I also really enjoyed Ethan. He was an amazing character and someone who you could trust and always rely on. He would do anything for Preena and that just made me smile and want to cry at the same time. He is such a caring person and he stole my heart. He has so many feelings and I know that sometimes got him into trouble in different ways, but it was really good to see.

‘He lost his hold on what was above and what was below, what was sky and what was earth, what there was to breath or even where his body began and ended.’

I particularly didn’t like any of the leaders of the group that travelled. I wanted to smash all their heads together and just yell, but I think in the end Preena does it for me. They are so stuck in their ways that they cannot see anything else, even if it is for the better.

I actually really liked Preena’s mum. Yes, she was a little ‘mean’ at the start, but I guess that is because she is too influenced by the leaders as well as the ghosts of her past. By the end, she became an enjoyable character to read and the little moments between her and Preena are too damn cute.

I liked all the twists and turns and not knowing what was going to happen. It was a different feeling because I am normally pretty good at seeing what is happening, so not knowing something was awesome, or thinking that something was going to happen and the complete opposites happens. What an ending. My heart broke and shattered. It was quite terrible.

I liked The Here and Now. It was an okay read, but I felt it lacked in the world building and as well a little in the characterisation.