*This book was sent to me by Jonathan Ball Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
***
By the Sally Rooney illustrator, Henn Kim’s collection of visual poetry is a beautiful encapsulation of love and loneliness. While mostly consisting of one line of text, the art style was unique and impactful, tactfully demonstrating the themes of our daily existence in this world.
I have never read visual poetry before this book, but I was happily surprised to find that the text and artwork could be viewed in a way as to appreciate its beauty, or to analyse its deeper meaning. Done solely in black and white, I found myself drawn to the illustrations, and their simplistic style. There were numerous pages that stood out to me and that I will be reading many times again.
This book is a fast read, but will remain in your mind for long after. Each illustration can be viewed as a separate artwork, yet they are all tied together by the emotions and themes they bring out. If I had to be picky, I would say that that I would have preferred more text, but that’s just a personal preference.
I really enjoyed the experience of reading this. It’s a stunning book filled with creativity and raw emotion. I highly recommend everyone do themselves a favour and purchase a copy!
*This book was sent to me by Jonathan Ball Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
***
Cloud Cuckoo Land tells the story of 5 different characters centuries apart, all intrinsically connected by a single book. Anna is an orphan in Constantinople, living in a house of women who embroider for a living, who learns to read and discovers the story of Aethon. Omeir is a village boy who lives just outside the walls of Constantinople. Five hundred years later is the story of Zeno who rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story. Hidden near their rehearsal space is a bomb, carefully placed by a troubled teenager, Seymour. And finally, in the far future, we follow the story of Konstance who is alone in her vault, writing out the story of Aethon on scraps of sack.
“Why is it so hard to transcend the identities assigned to us when we were young?”
Cloud Cuckoo Land is immersive and provocative with a level of complexity that is just about genius. You follow each character as if you were right there beside them, completely transported to another world. Whether you end up enjoying this book or not, it is something that can’t be missed.
The entire book circles around another book, namely ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’, which was an aspect I initially found confusing. ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ is essentially Aethon’s story, a story that each of the characters find themselves engrossed in. The stories seem very unrelated at the beginning, but the conclusion ties everything together well. I did feel that some of the excerpts from this ‘story’ were ineffectual, rather than philosophical as I hoped it would be, but nevertheless I understand the decision to include them.
Each character, along with their backstory, was unique and the writing was unimpeachable, yet for a large portion of the novel I felt rather lost. As mentioned before, we follow 5 characters, with their inimitable views of the world and the struggles they face. Having 5 POVs, and especially making them connected to one another, was a concept that I found fascinating, until I was met with lengthy descriptions detailing unnecessary aspects of their lives. The POV switch often happened just as I was getting wrapped up in one of the stories and I’d end up feeling disconnected from the characters.
I think the main reason this book is not one of my favourites was the pacing and lack of plot. I personally enjoy more plot-driven novels, so that’s just a personal preference, but I did find that the book took a while to pick up and for me to become really invested in the characters.
That is not to say that the book was at all bad. Individually I think all the stories are powerful and bring up a variety of issues such as war and climate change, all tactfully dealt with. When the story comes together at the end, it felt momentous. The meaning of the novel goes beyond surface level and the words hold a lot of wisdom. I think the world-building was brilliantly done.
Cloud Cuckoo Land was truly a new experience and although I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped to, I am positive that others will enjoy it a lot more.
Monique Grant is an unknown journalist and is stunned when she is specifically requested to interview Hollywood icon, Evelyn Hugo. This novel tells the story of Evelyn’s glamourous life as a celebrity, what she had to do to get there and why she wants Monique to tell her story.
I’m glad to say that this novel passed my high expectations with flying colours. It was poignant, astounding and memorable.
Evelyn Hugo is not the most likeable character. She has her flaws and will do just about anything for fame, not caring who she harms in the process. She is unapologetic and that’s what makes her so realistic and so interesting to read about. The cast of side characters all have dynamic personalities that are difficult to forget, even weeks after finishing the novel. I may not have liked the characters as people all the time, but I understood them and I think in the case of this novel that was something that made all the difference.
The book is divided into 7 parts, each named after one of Evelyn’s husbands. The writing is vivid and very apprehensible. It contains clippings from newspaper articles that will keep you completely absorbed in the writing and storyline. It is fast-paced and manages to summarise an entire life in merely 400 pages without me feeling like I was missing anything.
Something that I think this book touched on really well was the male gaze and how Evelyn was able to manipulate it to get what she wanted.
The romance was exquisitely done, showing not only a heartfelt relationship, but also the ups and downs that come with it. The friendship between two of the main characters was also perfectly written.
The ending was completely blindsiding and 100% worth sticking around for.
This is one of the best books I read in 2021 and I definitely recommend it, especially if you enjoy reading books following people who are famous.
Favourite quotes:
“It’s always been fascinating to me how things can be simultaneously true and false, how people can be good and bad all in one, how someone can love you in a way that is beautifully selfless while serving themselves ruthlessly.”
“Isn’t that the very definition of power? Watching people kill themselves over something that means nothing to you?”
“But to love someone. To care for them. To throw your lot in with theirs and think, Whatever happens, it’s you and me.”
“I love you too much to let you live only for me.”
“Which is about the cruellest thing you can do to someone you love, give them just enough good to make them stick through a hell of a lot of bad.”
“The world respects people who think they should be running it.”
*This book was sent to me by Jonathan Ball Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
***
When Iris Hollow was younger, something strange happened to her and her two sisters. Something that left them with scars at their throats and white hair. Something that none of them can remember.
Now, years later, seventeen-year-old Iris’ eldest sister, Grey, has gone missing again. Iris is forced to confront what happened to her those many years ago, following breadcrumbs Grey left behind. But the deeper she gets, the more she realizes that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret for years.
Review:
This book was eerie and dark and spine-chilling. With every page, Krystal Sutherland manages to weave more darkness into the reality of the three sisters’ lives. The mystery aspect reeled me in until I was unable to put this book down until I finished it. And let me tell you, the ending definitely did not disappoint. It was satisfying and still had me desperately wanting a sequel.
The characters were all fascinating and unique and the amount of casual representation in this book made my heart happy. The way the relationship between the sisters was written was just beautiful, while being simultaneously unnerving. The female empowerment they displayed was brilliantly written. Honestly, the entire book was just brilliantly written. The writing was easy to read, but still lyrical. The sarcastic banter, the vivid descriptions… I ADORED it all.
Its hard to say why I didn’t give this book 5 stars. I think the characters, as amazing as they were, could have been a little more developed. I also think that if the book was slightly lengthier, I would have had the opportunity to become more attached to the characters. But honestly, that was only a minor issue I had with the book and I’m sure the sequel will go more in depth for each character.
I was pleasantly surprised when I finished this book, as I wasn’t the biggest fan of ‘Our Chemical Hearts’. If you enjoy dark fairy-tale, this book is definitely for you.
*This book was sent to me by Penguin random House in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Illumen Hall is an elite boarding school. Tragedy strikes when the body of a student is discovered at their exclusive summer party – on her back is an elaborate tattoo of a magpie.
When new girl Audrey arrives the following term, running from her own secrets back home in America, she is thrown into solving the case. Despite her best efforts to avoid any drama, her new roommate Ivy was close to the murdered girl, and the two of them can’t help but get pulled in.
The two can’t stand each other, but as they are drawn deeper into the mystery of this strange and terrible murder, they will discover that something dangerous is at the heart of their superficially perfect school.
Welcome to The Magpie Society.
MY REVIEW:
When I received this book, my first thought was: Murder mystery? Elite boarding school? SIGN ME UP. So, I started the book with high hopes.
I’d finished about 50 pages, before formulating my first opinion. I really loved the setting. A mysterious British school near the coast. The writing was very simple and easy to follow. At this point in the book, I was not a big fan of the characters, especially Ivy, who I thought was blatantly rude for no reason other than wanting the dorm to herself, instead of having to share it with her new roommate, Audrey. The other characters in the novel were pretty hard to keep up with too, since none of them were described in much depth, and I thought they were very easily confused.
By the end of the book, my opinion changed slightly. I liked both Ivy and Audrey a lot more, however my opinion on the other characters remained the same. The mystery aspect of the novel was probably my favourite thing about the book. I was extremely curious as to what happened to Lola, the girl who was supposedly murdered. I really loved the idea of the podcast, and enjoyed that there was also the added mystery of who was behind this.
Something else that I didn’t like about novel, was how easily everything was found out. Being a mystery book, I expected there to be a lot of twists and turns, but most of the time, their first discovery was right. That’s not to say that the novel was completely predictable and a lot of the times, I was myself shocked at what had just happened.
Overall, this is a good, easy read. It deals with issues like bullying and suicide, in, what I thought, was a very sensitive manner. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in mystery novels.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue follows a young woman who made a deal to be immortal, but in exchange is cursed to be forgotten by every person she meets. Until she meets a young man named Henry in a bookstore 300 years later and he remembers her.
So, like most people reading this book, I went in with very high expectations. I had never read any of V.E. Schwab’s work before and I was surprised at how beautiful and poetic her writing is. Unfortunately, I found some of the other aspects of the book quite underwhelming.
The concept of the novel was truly interesting. I mean, how difficult must life be if every single person forgets you seconds after they look away? The book definitely delivered in that aspect and I found it interesting to read about the decisions Addie would make. However, the book did end up being very repetitive, and whether this was done purposefully or not, I still found it made the book slightly boring and difficult to get through.
I was warned that the pacing of the beginning of the book was rather slow and as much as I dislike slow pacing, I decided to read it anyway, assuming that it would pick up speed. It did not.
I am fond of character-driven novels if the characters are well-written. The author unfortunately did not focus much on Addie’s personality. Considering half of the book was about Addie’s backstory, it was quite disappointing that I still wasn’t very attached to her character. I really struggled to empathize with her. She just came across as ‘not being like other girls’.
Throughout the novel, we got introduced to many unnecessary characters who, shaped Addie’s life, but really didn’t need so much attention. The second main character was Henry, the love interest, the only person to ever remember Addie. I know a lot of people did not like his character, but I quite liked him and his backstory. I felt I related to him a lot more than I did to Addie. The problem comes in with the fact that he was Addie’s love interest. I felt that they had no chemistry, no banter and no romance.
The final character I’d like to talk about is Luc, the antagonist of the novel. ILOVED HIM. He was the only character I was interested in knowing more about. I wish we got more of him, but he only really featured towards the end of the novel (aka my favourite part of the novel).
Speaking of the ending, I actually quite enjoyed it. The last 70 pages were my favourite and I finished them a lot quicker than I did the rest of the book.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed the writing of this book and will be checking out other V.E. Schwab books to see if I enjoy them a bit more.
What were your thoughts on this book? Let me know in the comments!
Thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me this copy in exchange for an honest review.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why–or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man’s touch–and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes.
Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.
MY REVIEW (spoiler free):
This book was described as similar to “Knives out” which is very accurate. This novel was very plot-driven, and the riddles and puzzles around every corner made it captivating and thought-provoking, and I tried to figure out the mysteries with the characters (mostly failing, but I tried).
I adored the setting. The main character went from living in her car to staying at a massive mansion and going to school with millionaire’s children. I loved watching her making decisions and keeping her morals, even when her life was turned so completely upside down. She knew nobody except her sister and had to decide who she could trust.
Even though the characters were all very unique and well-written, I did occasionally feel like I did not connect with the main character as much as I would have liked to. She was however, a very strong and smart character, which was completely necessary for the plot. I loved most of the other characters (JAMESON!!), and especially the relationships they had with each other (There is a love triangle, fyi). This book also includes your typical brooding and mysterious love interest, for anyone wondering.
For the entire time that I was reading it, I could not put the book down. The plot was perfecting paced. I was VERY interested in knowing how it would end. Unfortunately, I did find the ending to be slightly anticlimactic, but it ended with a CLIFF-HANGER that made me want to immediately dive into the next book, so that definitely made up for it. I recommend this book if you enjoy mystery novels, or if you liked “One of us is Lying” or “We were liars”!!
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince.
As President Claremont kicks off her re-election bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
MY REVIEW:
I am going to be completely honest: I had absolutely no intention of reading this book. Romance is not my favourite book genre, and although I do occasionally enjoy reading it, with my 10-page long TBR, I didn’t think it was worth it. Then I joined booktok. And it was everywhere. That’s when I discovered that its enemies to lover and I HAD to buy it. Now, I don’t mean to exaggerate, but it was possibly the best decision of my life.
I was not going to review this book, because there isn’t much to say other than ‘it was perfect’, but for the sake of my blog, I shall elaborate. This book is written in third person, from Alex’s point of view. I loved Alex, and most of the other characters too. They were all incredibly well-written and memorable, and what I really loved was that they were all dealing with their own issues. The characters were also really diverse, without it seeming forced.
This was probably the funniest book I’ve ever read. The dialogue was witty and hilarious, and one of the best parts of the book. The pop culture references were *chef’s kiss*. I know of a few books who overdid the pop culture references to a point of frustration, but I thought it was perfectly done in this novel.
Now, Henry and Alex. HENRY AND ALEX. I loved it. The romance was impeccably written. I have read a few enemies to lovers’ novels before, and usually the characters are overly rude to each other in the beginning, or they barely even hated each other. This was, fortunately, neither. Alex and Henry’s banter in the beginning was entertaining to read, and definitely one of the reasons I couldn’t put the book down.
This book also includes quite a bit of politics, since Alex is the son of the first female US president, but I didn’t find it confusing or overdone, and it just added to how good the book was, even if the ending was slightly predictable. I also thought it was great that the book had a storyline other than just Henry and Alex’s relationship.
It’s a very fast paced novel, so even if you are a slow reader, you should be able to finish it within a matter of days. The writing is beautiful and flows really well, and there is a never a dull moment, which I think is pretty impressive considering this is the authors debut novel.
I honestly just really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend that everyone reads it. Immediately. 😊
Henry Page is a film buff and a hopeless romantic. He’s waiting for that slow-mo, heart-palpitating, can’t-eat-can’t-sleep kind of love that he’s seen in the movies. So, the last person he expects to fall in love with is Grace.
Grace Town is not your normal leading lady. She dresses in oversized men’s clothing, smells like she hasn’t washed in weeks and walks with a cane. She’s nobody’s idea of a dream girl, but Henry can’t stop thinking about her.
There’s something broken about Grace; a small part of her soul is cracked from the secrets in her past. Henry wants nothing more than to put her back together again, but will she let him?
Review:
When I first received this book, it wasn’t something that fell into the category of “I have to stop everything I am doing and read this immediately”. In fact, I only really read it because there was a movie coming out, but I ended up really enjoying it. The writing was very modern and I really enjoyed the way Henry’s friends were written. Their friendship was adorable.
The dialogue was hilarious, and kept the book lighthearted, even though it dealt with some serious issues involving Grace and her mental state after a traumatic event. I felt like the novel was realistic, especially the ending. Something that others might have loved, but I did not, was the overuse of pop culture references. A few would have been fine, but it felt like there was one every few pages.
Overall, I thought that, although it had its flaws, it was a very quick and enjoyable read. Hidden among the references was definitely some wisdom, and it definitely wasn’t your typical love story.
I recommend this to anyone who is sick of the typical love story! And make sure to watch the movie starring Lili Reinhart!
Discussion: SPOILERS
Okay, so let’s get into all the spoilers. If you have not read the book, make sure to read it and then pop back here to read the discussion! So firstly, I thought Grace was not a great character. I understand she lost her boyfriend, whom she was completely in love with, but to get into a relationship with Henry when she knew she wasn’t ready, was unfair towards him. Not that I am saying Henry wasn’t at fault, because he definitely was. He admitted to being in love with the Grace in his head, and kept hoping that she would eventually be like that again, which I think was pretty uncool of him. They both knew they were not meant to be together but continued to pursue a rather toxic relationship which was meant to end.
On page 257, Lola says “People are perfect when all that’s left of them is memory.” And this was one of my favourite quotes from the book, because if you think about it, it’s true. Grace had this perfect version of Dom in her head, and he could never do anything wrong because well… he’s dead. Henry really couldn’t live up to this, and for Grace to make him think that he ever could was wrong of her. Not to say Grace wasn’t well written, but she seemed very cliché of a character with a tragic backstory.
That’s about it for the discussion, let me know your thoughts!
Hello bookworms! I recently finished ‘Shatter me’ and I am extremely disappointed that I hadn’t read it sooner. IT WAS AMAZING!!!
Genre: Young Adult dystopian thriller
Pages: 338
Publisher: Harper Teen
Overall rating: 4,25 stars
Goodreads synopsis:
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong colour.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
My review (spoiler free)
Shatter me was one of those books that had been on my TBR for so long, even before I managed to get copies of the first 4 books at Exclusive Books.
The book starts with the main character, Juliette, locked in an asylum. What made me immediately like the book was the detailed descriptions and use of metaphors. It wasn’t just descriptions of the setting, but of Juliette’s emotions. There were, however, many times when metaphors were overused to a point of not making much sense. Or sense at all. “They filled our world with weapons aimed at our foreheads and smiled as they shot sixteen candles right through our future.” Anyone willing to explain what exactly this means? The strikethroughs and repetition in the book decreased as the book progressed, due to Juliette’s mental health improving, which I thought was an interesting technique.
The setting of the book is a dystopian world that I assume is a reference to our future if we continue carelessly wasting resources. The Reestablishment is in charge of… basically saving the world. The book included lots of world building, written in a way that sounded like a lesson to readers.
As far as the storyline goes, it was a pretty standard plot for most dystopian novels. The story was very fast-paced which made me enjoy reading it even more. I thought that the characters were well written, each of them having a very distinct personality. I’m used to reading books with multiple perspectives, so even though Juliette’s emotions were clear, it was hard for me to tell what anyone else was thinking, which led to me only trusting Juliette and not feeling a particular attachment to any of the other characters.
By this point, you are probably wondering why I gave the book such a high rating. Regardless of all the things in the book that I disliked, I really just enjoyed reading the book! I genuinely loved the book, even with all its flaws. It kept me interested and considering the fact that it is a series, it has lots of potential to grow as a story. If you look past the writing (which personally didn’t really bother me), it contained everything I look for in a series. I will definitely be continuing with the series.
The book itself (writing, characters etc.): 3,75 stars
My enjoyment: 4,75 stars
Discussion (spoilers ahead)
Okay, so onto the spoiler section. So firstly characters: I liked Juliette. Unlike many reviews, I didn’t think she was annoying. She made good decisions, and, like a normal person, she had flaws. Initially I liked Adam too. He had a good backstory and I was glad that him and Juliette knew each other from childhood. However, I didn’t really trust Adam. I spent the entire book wondering when he was going to betray her or reveal that he was acting the entire time. I’m not sure if it was just me, but I didn’t LOVE Adam as a character. Near the end of the end of the book, when he possibly died, I didn’t feel sad about it. He had more of a personality when he was in the asylum with Juliette, and I understand he was meant to be a “disciplined soldier”, but other than him being super protective over Juliette and a bit of his backstory, I didn’t know much about him.
Another thing that I wasn’t sure if I liked or not, was Adam and Juliette. They were in the same school, and had never spoken before, but she was in love with him. Not sure if it’s just me being obsessed with the hate to love trope, but I wasn’t sure if the “I’ve been in love with you since we were kids” thing worked or not. It didn’t help that he didn’t show any sign of recognition and was just emotionless around Warner. If he was in love with her forever, surely he would’ve at least flinched when she was being hurt?
As the antagonist in the book, I liked Warner. He was never really particularly rude to Juliette, except for the threats. I thought he was an interesting character, and I liked the addition of him being “obsessed” with Juliette and her ability. Another character I liked was Kenji. I thought he was one of the only characters who really had sense of humour.
Like I mentioned before, the plot was standard of a dystopian novel. A girl with abilities escapes and joins a rebel group to try overthrow the government (who doesn’t care about the population). This storyline in particular reminded me of Red Queen. (SPOILER: A girl with strange abilities working for the enemy until she escapes with rebels and finds out there are others like her?) So, if you enjoyed this, you will love Red Queen.
Overall I enjoyed ‘Shatter me’ and can’t wait to read the sequel!!
Comment what you thought about ‘Shatter me’, if you read it!
They both knew they were not meant to be together but continued to pursue a rather toxic relationship which was meant to end.
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