ARC Book Review Archives - Page 7 of 9

Book Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill

Jul 11, 2015

Lorali by Laura Dockrill

Pages: 352
Publish date: July 2nd 2015
Publisher: The Five Mile Press (Hot Key Books)
ISBN: 9781471404221
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn’t exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from.

Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human.

But along with Lorali’s arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory’s bemused Sussex town. With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their own. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway?

Lorali:

I received Lorali by Laura Dockrill from The Five Mile Press (Hot Key Books) in exchanged for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

As soon as I read the synopsis for Lorali, I knew I needed it in my hands so I could read it. Firstly the cover is stunning, not only does it look beautiful. but it feels so cool. The front has scales like fish do, or like a mermaid’s tale and you can feel them.

Lorali jumps through 3 points of view; Rory the male protagonist and who the novel follows, Lorali; the mermaid that washes ashore and ‘The Sea.’

It was easy to distinguish between the different points of view. Rory had a very man like even boy like attitude in the way that he spoke and referred to things. I actually really enjoyed Rory as a Protagonist. It’s rare that I read a book with a male protagonist and I find them 1. Hard to connect to and 2. There isn’t too much of it. Rory is kind of the loner in a sense – he has friends, yes. But I got the vibe that he likes to be alone and that people just don’t get him.
Pretty early on in the book, the reader is able to see that Rory family is pretty dysfunctional. His father has left and too Rory, he is dead to him, but this took a toll on Rory’s mum and she isn’t what Rory needs.

Lorali’s point of view is interesting. All her sentences are short and don’t always make sense. But I think that added to her character. Lorali acted like a little girl and in a sense she was. She didn’t really know all too much about the land and ‘walkers,’ so she was new to everything. She acted like a 3 year old and it was so cute. She was excited about so many different things that a normal 16/17 year old wouldn’t get excited about. It was so adorable and I love the way that Rory acted about it as well; yes it thought it was so wired before he knew what she was, but after…oh it made my heart flutter.

‘The Sea’ was an interesting point of view. I haven’t read too many things when an author personifies something and I think that Laura Dockrill, did it perfectly. It was humanized in a way that if the chapters of Lorali didn’t have ‘The Sea’ at the top, you would have thought it was human.

‘The Sea’ followed a different people and it also gave the reader some back story on things and people that were brought up through the book.

One of the groups of people that the sea followed were aboard the Liberty Ship, the Ablegares boys, who are pirates. Otto, Oksa and Jasper are quite entertaining characters and I really enjoyed following their story. They shared such an awesome bond it was fun to read, but then they could be harsh and mean.

‘The Sea’ also follows Orla a mermaid whose job is to keep an eye on the walkers, again she was a really interesting character, which kind of disappointed me in the end.

Although I loved the plot, the characters and all the twists and turns. I didn’t fall in love with the writing style. I am not a massive fan of lots of short sentences, I felt that when the book was in Lorali’s point of view it made sense, but not when it was in others. I also felt the ending lacked – I was just really confused by the ending. I don’t know if that was just me and I missed something.

Overall, I really enjoyed Lorali. It was a fun, exciting read, that had me turning page after page. It was fast paced and exciting. I also loved that Laura Dockrill put newspaper/internet and other forms of media pieces in the book about things that occurred it added something different to an already unique book. There is so much more that I could go on about, but I won’t. If you like fantasy/paranormal, romance anything really, I think that you would enjoy Lorali.

Have you read Lorali yet? Did you like it? Are you plannign on reading it?

Book Review: Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips

Jun 25, 2015

Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips

Pages: 272
Publish date: June 30th
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1617738808
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

When Lexi Shaw seduced Oakfield High’s resident bad boy Tyler Flynn at the beginning of senior year, he seemed perfectly okay with her rules:

1. Avoid her at school.
2. Keep his mouth shut about what they do together.
3. Never tease her about her friend (and unrequited crush) Ben.

Because with his integrity and values and golden boy looks, Ben can never find out about what she’s been doing behind closed doors with Tyler. Or that her mom’s too busy drinking and chasing losers to pay the bills. Or that Lexi’s dad hasn’t been a part of her life for the last thirteen years. But with Tyler suddenly breaking the rules, Ben asking her out, and her dad back in the picture, how long will she be able to go on faking perfect?

Faking Perfect:

I received an e-arc of Faking Perfect from Kensington Books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

I always love to read about a bad boy. I don’t know what it is, but they always seem to make things interesting. Faking Perfect really intrigued me from the synopsis, it sounded interesting and like there was going to be drama, drama, drama and for that part it did not disappoint me, however I did feel that some of the characters lacked substance and the writing style wasn’t my favourite.

Lexi Shaw is the main protagonist in Faking Perfect and she isn’t the ‘good girl.’ So if you were looking for a good girl/bad boy relationship then it’s not in this book. Lexi annoyed me thought-out most of the book. She wants to be this perfect girl that everyone loves, including Ben but still has her late night extravaganzas with Tyler Flynn, but then keeps on going about how she has to be perfect without really changing everything.

Lexi felt like a hypocrite to me most of the book and it ticked the wrong boxes for me. I wanted to like her so much and when she was with Tyler, most of the time I did really enjoy her. But when she tried to be perfect she was fake.

Tyler – I loved him. He is your typical bad boy: sells weed at parties, drinks and driving around like a hoon. But as the novel goes on we see that his character develop, and he starts to try and be a better person. He follows Lexi’s rules and even though he has all these feelings inside of him he doesn’t let them all out because he knows he will hurt Lexi.

But we don’t see that from Lexi, she didn’t change her thoughts all too much from the start of the novel till the end and I love seeing people grow. Her obsession with Ben, gosh it frustrated me so much. She wants to be his girlfriend, he is treated like this perfect student and person and yet he has girlfriends after girlfriends. Her friends as well. She tries to act perfect in front of them and when she doesn’t do something that they were approve of, they stop being her friend.

Let’s not even go into the family problems, her mother is drunk with boyfriends coming in and out of the house, she can’t pay the bills and really doesn’t care about her daughter. Then the father situation, actually I quite liked her father, but it all worked to fast. One minute Lexi was angry and then she was all smiles.
Overall I don’t know really how I feel about Faking Perfect. I liked most of it, but then there was things that really put me off. If you like a quick contemporary read, then Faking Perfect is perfect for you.

Book Review: The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward

Jun 22, 2015

The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward

Pages: 320
Publish date: 2 July 2015
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 978-1-4711-4356-4
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Meet Samantha Kemi – an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent. her ability to mis potions is second to none, and makes her the perfect competitor in the Wilde Hunt – a deadly quest to save Nova’s princess, who has been poisoned by her own love potion.

With the nation’s media watching her every move, Sam must overcome incredible danger and impossible dilemmas in order to hunt down the ingredients for a cure. but is she up for the challenge

The Potion Diaries:

I received a copy of The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward from Simon and Schuster in exchange for a review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

Firstly the premise of The Potion Diaries was intriguing. A main character that can mix potions, therefore coming the perfect competitor in a deadly quest to save the princess. For anyone that loves fantasy – this is what will pull them and it did pull me.

I have mixed feeling about Samantha; the main protagonist of The Potion Diaries. I loved when she was in her element mixing potions, the way that her mind was working throughout the book. It was different from other young adult books that I have read before. It’s rare that you have a protagonist that is smart the way Samantha is.

But then she was so whiny and annoying. She was trying to save the princess, but she was still longing for ‘love.’ For someone who is so smart, she was blinded and distracted by the thought of love.

Zain…what can I say about him. I didn’t like him too much. He was the person that always got on my nerves, that whatever he did, I just could not like him. Especially at the ending, the way that he was forgiven so easily. I wanted to scream at Sam.

I found the romance lacked. I could not get into it and I felt disappointed.

I truly enjoyed the Kemi family –and that is not saying that I say often. I liked the way that the family worked, how they acted towards each other. It was nice seeing a family unit that worked – most of the time.

I found the world of The Potion Diaries interesting, but I felt that the world building lacked. I was left hanging a lot of the time, asking myself all these questions. We were just pushed into this world that was somewhat high tech but was using potions.

Though I felt disconnected from the world. The Wilde Hunt was interesting. It was exciting, intriguing, and had me on the edge of my seat. What was going to happen next? Are they going to be okay? Those are the types of questions the reader is posed with while the hunt is on. They kept the book going and it was interesting.

I also would have liked The Potion Diaries more if it was only from Sam’s perspective. Princess Evelyn while under the love potion annoyed me so much. I understand that she was poisoned and was going kind of insane, but I felt that it was unnecessary. This could still have been shown this side of the princess through Sam’s eyes.

The Potion Diaries is being said to be a cross with The Hunger Games and The Princess Diaries. And I do have a slight problem with this. I don’t really understand how it was like The Princess Diaries. But I could see how it was like The Hunger Games. A teen girl put into a dangerous game, where people can die with media watching, but then it stops there.

I liked Amy Alward’s writing style, it was intriguing and I didn’t feel that someone older (an adult) was telling the story. I felt that it was a teen girl who was whiny, wanted to be loved but was also smart.

Furthermore, I enjoyed reading The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward. It was different and refreshing. Yes, there were some problems that I had with world building and the characters, but I overall enjoyed this fun and exciting read.

Have you read The Potion Diaries? What did you think of it? Are you going to read it?

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