Category: Book Review

Book Review: The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman

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A Woman stole your heart when you didn’t know it could mend, 

Her heart is now broken and you can fix it if you never tell a soul as well as saving a child. 

As this novel is about to fill our cinema screens, I wanted to share with you my review of the breath taking, heart breaking novel by M.L. Stedman.

Set just after  WW1, war hero Tom Sherborne wants a quiet life after what he has seen. With a heavy heart it is just short of a miracle when he finds not only his perfect job on the isolated island of Janus, but also a young and fiery Isabel. After exchanging letters Tom and Isabel marry as he takes her back to Janus to join him in the lighthouse and start their own paradise on the island. When a boat arrives on the island holding a dead man and a tiny infant the couple don’t know what to do. While Tom is adamant he must stick to the keepers code Isabel , heartbroken by the death of her stillborn son and two miscarriages, and sure the child is an orphan. The couple begin to realise that while their paradise is a world away, they cannot hide forever.

This novel absolutely warmed and shattered my heart all at once. I honestly can not remember a book that has touched me in this way before, even my favourite The Storyteller didn’t make my heart ache this much. I knew nothing of this book before I found it in my local Tesco’s and I was hesitant to pick it up, but I am so glad I did. The blurb warns you that it will break your heart but I was sceptical. That said, I am yet to read a review in which the novel hasn’t brought the reader to tears by the end. I’ve read reviews beforehand saying that they couldn’t stand Isabel and I could see why some would hate her, but I just couldn’t. I don’t know if it is because I’m a woman, because of my own maternal instincts, but I understood Isabel. I understood why she did what she did. The pain of losing her children broke her and changed her in a way no one could explain, because think about it, wouldn’t it change you? I can also understand Tom’s dilemma and the decision he makes, and maybe it’s not the right one but in his shoes I doubt anyone knows what they would really do.

The novel has a very real sense of the implications of war and the fragile nature of human life. Although we never hear about Tom’s time as a serving soldier to graphically you don’t need to because it is not the dead who will shatter you heart it is the living who are left behind. On land there is an eerie sense of the hardships of war, of the men who came home but never really came back at all, the mothers and widowers who refuse to believe their boys are really dead. Stedman also bravely touches on the subject of racism after  war, when an innocent life is lost because of the decisions of the few. In my opinion, this was incredibly important because we rarely see this side written about and also because it shows the hurt of a whole community and also the sacrifice of Australia in WW1, something that is often overlooked.

One of the main reasons I loved it though was because I wasn’t in a rush. This wasn’t a thriller but it made you want to read on at your own pace. After saying this, however, this does not mean that I couldn’t put it down and even though I peeked later on at one point I soon forgot what I had read because you get so absorbed in the novel. The imagery of the surroundings is beautiful and I could hear the characters inside my head. The way I can decide if it is a novel worth passing on is if the characters live on in my head, if they become alive and Stedman has certainly done this. I think about living in a lighthouse, about Tom and Izzy and I dream about Australia, so on that basis I can give you a five-star rating!

The Light Between Oceans – M. L Stedman (debut novel)

***** – It may have broken my heart but I love this novel to pieces already!

Published by Black Swan

Book Review: Revolutionary Road – Yates

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Declared a classic I read Revolutionary Road in my second year of university, expecting great things. I didn’t find them. Over a week later I was still struggling through the lives of Frank and April Wheeler, after an opening where Frank in described as ‘the most interesting man she had ever met’ I was expecting him to be, well, interesting. I was disappointed.

Although this novel was not my personal choice to begin with, I wouldn’t especially recommend this book. The novel is not badly written but lacks intrigue within the plot and presents two extremely dull characters. It’s strange but I’ve never hated a protagonist so much while I read. I loathed Frank Wheeler after a while and found April to be pathetic and the image of a hysterical and dependent woman. The novel for me is a classic story of a couple who married too young and still wanted to play games with each other, even in adulthood. Although the period in which this is set needs to be considered, I found the couple to be irritating, meaning the novel was harder to read.

That said I enjoyed the concept of the novel, challenging what society believes to be what a man and woman should do and slipping into the suburban lifestyle. I just found that Frank and April were terrible characters to portray this. I found Revolutionary Road to be quite a drag, there was so much more Yates could have achieved rebelling against ‘the American Dream’ but instead we are faced with characters we cannot connect with, therefore breaking any connection that we can have with the novel itself.

It’s one of the rare occasions that I found the film better than the novel, because it’s a format in which this plot works. Reading about April’s tedious day to day life and Frank’s outlook on life was enough to make anyone lose interest. There is some merit in this novel and it’s clear that Yates can write fiction, but the lack of character development is what really killed it for me.

I want to give the novel two stars **. I thought Revolutionary Road was something that would make me think, instead I found 300 odd pages of frustration and loathing towards both of the main characters. Yes the ending (no spoilers) varies this but it wasn’t enough to change my opinion on the novel as a whole.

Book Review: The Sun is Also a Star – Nicola Yoon

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Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? 

All I can say first of all is wow, wow, wow. I wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to pick this up. I’d read Yoon’s other novel Everything, Everything earlier in the year and while I liked it I struggled with certain elements and their likelihood. That said I kept seeing this novel everywhere and heard nothing but good things about it, reflecting on the fact I’d actually really liked Yoon’s style previously I thought I would give this a go, and I’m so glad I was offered a copy for review.

The Sun Is Also A Star is more than simply a YA novel. This is a story of identity, personality, nationality, love, loss, strained relationships and taking chances. Natasha and Daniel could not be more different on the surface, while she is a deeply serious and studious young woman, he is a dreamer struggling with the pressures put upon him. For both of them this day will change their lives, after a chance encounter they realise that life won’t always go as they planned.

Not only did I fall in love with these characters I loved that this book didn’t have the typical American boy/ American girl set up. Daniel is from an American-Korean family, while Natasha and her family are from Jamaica, while she considers herself American. This adds a whole other level to the plot and the narrative. This isn’t a simple boy meets girl story, it’s so much more complex. It looks at their relationship with their ethnicity, stereotypes and others around them. I welcomed this, I welcomed characters that were part of an ethnic minority and the impact it has on their lives in 21st century America.

It took a little while to get used to but I loved that there were these strange sections within the novel that explained concepts, people and their stories. It seems strange and at first I didn’t think it would work but as the novel went on it showed off not only Yoon’s brilliant research capabilities but also the lengths she has gone to when creating her characters, their worlds, stories and families.

It is because of these traits in the novel that I found myself getting deeply and emotionally attached to the characters and their issues. It’s rare that I’ll become attached to a novel that features romance but I could not stop reading it, I wanted and rooted for both Daniel and Natasha. I will say make sure you read to the end because there are twists that you don’t expect to happen, there are emotions that you don’t know you will feel.

I gave this a high 4 stars. I really enjoyed this novel, I thought it was well written and well executed. I suppose it also had a sense of realism too. I don’t think there is anything I actively disliked about the novel, I just felt that occasionally Daniel came across a little too much as a perfect romantic type, but that’s just my personal taste.

Book Review: Hello Me, It’s You – Edited by Hannah Todd

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‘Hello Me, it’s You is a collection of letters by young adults aged 17-24 about their experiences with mental health issues. The letters are written to their 16-year-old selves, giving beautifully honest advice, insight and encouragement for all that lays ahead of them.’

When hearing about the premise of this book, I was intrigued. I know that when I was 16 and suffering with a deep depression I felt alone and that no on in the world felt this way, that it wouldn’t get better. I really wish I’d had this book. Each letter is written by a different person telling their younger selves what they wish they had known and what is to come. It was interesting to read, partially because of a lot of the letters written were by people my own age, writing back, it definitely made me think about what I would want to tell to my 16-year-old self.

Each letter was deeply emotional and took a different direction. While some authors felt that they would simply tell their past selves that things get better, others gave advice on what they were going to go through and how to cope or ways they would cope eventually. I think that this is a book to pick up and put down because it can be quite heavy reading. There are a lot of issues discussed, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, general feelings of a lack of self-worth. Of course, these are issues that need to be spoken about, but as someone who has been and currently is going through mental health issues it can be hard to read about these things, so I found myself taking a break here and there. If nothing else this book should remind you that self-care is important.

I will admit there are some point where I wondered if you would really tell your past self just how bad things will get, but I think that really depends on you as a person. Of course, all of this is hypothetical, we know that we can’t go back in time and tell our past selves anything, however, what is incredible about these letters is that it could speak to someone who feels like they are alone. Each and every one of these letters is unique and will be able to speak to young people who are struggling and encourage them to either talk to someone or give comfort that they are not alone.

I gave this book 4 stars. It was a brilliant idea and I think it could help a lot of young people through some really difficult times. More books like this are definitely needed to show people that mental illness does not mean that your life is over. It also doesn’t mean that you need to live in fear, nor do you have to live alone.

Book Review: Great Small Things – Jodi Picoult

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“You say you don’t see colour…but that’s all you see. You’re so hyperaware of it, and of trying to look like you aren’t prejudiced, you can’t even understand that when you say race doesn’t matter all I hear is you dismissing what I’ve felt, what I’ve lived, what it’s like to be put down because of the color of my skin.”

When a newborn baby dies after a routine hospital procedure, there is no doubt about who will be held responsible: the nurse who had been banned from looking after him by his father. What the nurse, her lawyer and the father of the child cannot know is how this death will irrevocably change all of their lives, in ways both expected and not.Small Great Things is about prejudice and power; it is about that which divides and unites us. It is about opening your eyes.

I have to start by saying that I have had the release date of this novel written down since it was known. I’m a HUGE Jodi Picoult fan and have been lucky enough to speak to the lady herself a few years ago when The Storyteller was released. Jodi’s novel is a particularly prominent in light of the violence we have been seeing pouring out of the US against black people, and how quickly things can turn nasty. I requested a copy of this novel from the publishers and was lucky enough to receive it in return for an honest review.

As with all Jodi Picoult novels, the story is seen through the eyes of multiple characters. Ruth is a trusted and hardworking nurse, she is also African American. Turk is a husband, new father and White Supremacist. When baby Davis dies, Turk wants the hospital to pay and to know why the woman he demanded not be near his son was present. Ruth is thrown into a world of accusation and uncertainty, can she finally face the fact that the world might not be as colour blind as she thought? Meanwhile, lawyer Kennedy has her eyes opened to the world in a way that she couldn’t understand.

Once again Picoult has chosen to write about a moral situation that raises a thousand questions. It’s something completely new to me to read from the perspective of a White Supremacist. While there is a fair amount of novels out there from the perspective of a black person facing prejudice, novels that I want to read and to understand. I never would have picked up something from the perspective of a White Supremacist, because I didn’t see the point. Why would I want to read about hatred? However, Picoult manages to show the humanity in everyone. She doesn’t paint Turk and his wife as someone to disregard because of their views, nor does she sugar coat them. I felt angry and uncomfortable reading Turks perspective, but I realised that this was important, because this is what people face. That said, Ruth is not painted as perfect either. While she is a model citizen, the widow of a fallen hero and loving mother, Picoult shows her reactions in a human way. She shows not only what people would expect of the characters, whether that be in a positive or negative way, but also shows them as real people who make judgements, mistakes etc.

That said, Ruth is not painted as perfect either. While she is a model citizen, the widow of a fallen hero and loving mother, Picoult shows her reactions in a human way. She shows not only what people would expect of the characters, whether that be in a positive or negative way, but also shows them as real people who make judgements, mistakes etc. While I understand why Kennedy was included as a point of view, she wasn’t particularly memorable for me. She added a middle ground to the novel but I didn’t feel particularly affected by her until the very end.

This is without a doubt an important modern novel, it’s been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird (one of my favourite novels of all time) and while I understand the comparison, it’s different. To Kill a Mockingbird had a clear right and wrong, you knew who was innocent and who was guilty. While few people would agree with Turk and his beliefs (and I certainly don’t agree with them) the emotions, thoughts and to some extent certain backstories make you unclear about all parties. Picoult has refused to show a clear cut good vs bad situation.

I gave this novel 4 stars. I really enjoyed it and I thought the concept was incredibly unique as well as very well written. That said I had mixed feelings about some parts towards the end of the novel, some I just felt didn’t fit (I wish I could go into more detail than that!), but I think this is down to personal preference rather than a flaw in the writing/plot. Picoult has once again shown that she is not afraid to confront issues that we might not want, or feel too awkward to talk about. She’s cemented her status as one of the most thoughtful and intelligent writers of the 21st century.

Great Small Things is out in the UK on November 22nd!

Book Review: The Girl in the Picture – Alexandra Monir

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‘Nicole Morgan has been labeled many things — the geeky music girl, the shy sidekick to Miss Popularity, and the girl with the scar. Now only one name haunts her through the halls of Oyster Bay Prep. The Girl in the Picture. After high school heartthrob Chace Porter is found dead in the woods near the school, the police are in search of the girl whose picture with Chace is the only clue found amongst his personal belongings. A girl who no one knew was even close to Chace–and whose dormmate, Lana Rivera, was Chace’s girlfriend. Nicole is that girl and now she’s the primary suspect in his murder. But what really happened that night? Were Nicole and Chace dating behind Lana’s back; were he and Lana over? Could either of them have killed him? Told in alternating points of view, that of our suspect, Nicole Morgan, and her former best friend and roommate, Lana Rivera, readers will piece together the story of a starcrossed love, a fractured friendship–and what really happened the night Chace was killed.’ 

I requested this novel a little while ago and said that in return I would give an honest review about what I thought of the novel. I love a good thriller and this seemed to pull me in, the murder of a loved boy, best friends at war, the mention of a scar, what’s not to love? Set in an exclusive boarding school for the rich and talented the crime rocks them to their core, but would either girl have it in her to murder someone?

I’m sad to admit that this novel was not as I expected, instead of a fast paced thriller with various twists and turns that left me in shock I was left with an ‘okay’ novel which used a lot of YA cliches as well as some quite see through plotlines, which was disappointing. At first, I thought I’d really like Nicole in particular, she seemed smart and approachable as a character, but as the novel wore on I felt increasingly frustrated with her and her plot, it just didn’t seem like she carried on as the same character throughout. This was similar with Lana, however, she appeared to be a stereotype rich bitch girl from the beginning, without a lot of depth or vulnerability to her, which was disappointing.

The plot itself could have worked really well but I just felt that it had so many holes in it. If I’m honest I think it would have worked much better as a longer novel, at many times the plot felt too rushed, like it was crammed into the space of a young adult novel and some things which seemed important were almost completely ignored. There’s not a doubt that Monir has good ideas, but I definitely think this would have worked better as a longer novel, simply because there were so many points where I wanted to know more and wanted to explore the characters, their motives and their backgrounds.

I gave this novel 2 stars. I was really excited to read this but unfortunately, it just didn’t show me anything new in the genre. I worked out quite early on what was happening and there were some things within it that just didn’t make sense or just seemed to fall into place too easily in the story. I definitely think that there was potential here but unfortunately, it was too much like other thrillers that I’ve read and didn’t give me anything new to take away from it.

Sad times!

 

Book Review: Baby Doll – Hollie Overton

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‘A dead bolt has a very specific sound. Lily was an expert at recognizing certain sounds–the creak of the floorboards signaling his arrival, the mice scurrying across the concrete in search for food.’

Held captive for eight years, Lily has grown from a teenager to an adult in a small basement prison. Her daughter Sky has been a captive her whole life. But one day their captor leaves the deadbolt unlocked.This is what happens next…to her twin sister, to her mother, to her daughter…and to her captor.

For a debut novel Hollie Overton has struck gold. I bought this after watching someone on Youtube who had been sent an ARC and intended to read it and I’m so glad I picked it up. I didn’t just read this novel, I devoured it. Reminiscient of Emma Donoghue’s Room, Overton has attempted to capture what life is like after being kidnapped and imprisoned. With similarities to real cases in the media such as Jaycee Duguard, who was imprisoned and gave birth to her captors children, the novel focuses on how Lily can face a world that she hasn’t known for almost a decade.  The most interesting part of the novel, however, is how her return impacts her entire family and how they’ve been living their lives.

The writing is fast paced and appears to be well researched, from Lily’s initial escape to her attempts to reconnect with her family, a world that is fascinated by her and her captor. Speaking of whom, this is the first time I’ve read the perspective of a captor, it was both brilliant and chilling. I felt incredibly uncomfortable reading his side of events and thoughts behind what he had done. While it’s easy to dismiss him as ‘insane’, Overton has breached something that people haven’t before and added to Lily’s torment.

The change in family dynamic and how the lives they have been living impact Lily’s return were incredibly interesting. We don’t normally see what happens when these victims have to go back into the real world and how their families have to learn how to live with their loved ones, when they aren’t the same daughter, sister or granddaughter as they were when they left. Lily and her twin sister are strangers to each other, while Lily is a mother to six-year-old Sky, raised in captivity, Abby has scars of a suicide attempt and is pregnant herself. Reading about the sisters lives and their attempts to come together highlighted the difficulties of these kinds of situations. There were twists and turns that made me gasp in shock and while some have argued that Lily copes too well with what happened to her and the outside world, I feel it highlights that everyone is different. That said, I feel that if one of the subplots had been disregarded there would have been more time for Lily’s recovery within the novel.

I gave this novel 4 out of 5 stars. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a good thriller. This was compared to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, both of which I thought were terrible, but Baby Doll was a breath of fresh air. The novel dealt with so many different emotions and aspects of this kind of case. While I had mixed feelings about the ending it was different and not something I guessed beforehand (which is such a relief, I’m sick of guessing twists). I’d highly recommend Hollie’s first novel. Is it perfect? No. That said, there are few first novels that are. If you like a good thriller and are looking for something different this is a read for you. Hollie is one to watch.

Book Review: When We Collided – Emery Lord

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“My dark days made me strong. Or maybe I already was strong, and they made me prove it.”

Jonah never thought a girl like Vivi would come along. Vivi didn’t know Jonah would light up her world.
Neither of them expected a summer like this…a summer that would rewrite their futures.

In an unflinching story about new love, old wounds, and forces beyond our control, two teens find that when you collide with the right person at just the right time, it will change you forever.

Well, what can I say about this novel? While initially, I wondered if this was going to be another novel about teenagers falling in love and everything is magical and great forever. I can’t read books like that anymore because there are so many. This was a refreshing read focusing on real issues and how we cope with them and showing teenagers as people.

I got this with my Illumicrate back in May and have only got around to reading it now. I am kicking myself for not reading it sooner! Emery Lord is a fantastic writer and can write thoughtful, funny and beautiful words that will suck you in. I could not put this book down, I was constantly thinking about Vivi and Jonah, their lives, their futures. Also, it’s rare that I love an ending as much as I did this one. It was absolutely perfect and just created a sense of peace for me at the end.

While the blurb hints at mental illness, it doesn’t show the extent of how the novel manages it. Both Vivi and Jonah are so real and incredible because they have flaws, they make mistakes and, for me, you can see yourself in their decisions and mistakes. The novel has so many elements to it family, friends, reflection and how people live through challenges in mental health. Jonah’s grief is explored, as are issues in Vivi’s past.

With all that said the novel is uplifting, I loved every single page. Vivi is a breath of fresh air and Jonah took my heart from the very first page. I’d love to go into the list of reasons why but I don’t want to spoil anything because it really is a treat.

Of course, I gave this novel five stars, for a while I thought it may be four but the ending bumped it up. I loved the pace, characters and plot it was absolutely incredible and I can’t wait to get myself reading anything else that Emery writes because she is truly talented.

Book Review: Far From You – Tess Sharpe

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“Bad ideas are sometimes necessary.” It sounds so much like an excuse, it’s such an addict thing to say, that it makes my skin crawl.”

Sophie counts the days, the weeks, the months that she’s been drug-free. Not your average image of a drug addict Sophie is a young woman who fell into an addiction for painkillers. Four months ago her best friend Mina was murdered, people say it was adrug deal gone wrong. Sophie knows the truth. There was no drug deal and there was no accident, Mina was murdered and she has to get people to believe her before the killer comes for her next.

All hail Tess Sharpe. I have to say that after reading this novel I was absolutely hooked, I wanted to read it about five times over because it had just been so magnificently written. Who can be believed, who can be trusted? No one knows in this gritty thriller novel if you loved Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls then you’ll adore Far From You. I’ve been thrusting copies into my friends hands since I read it because each chapter takes you somewhere you didn’t think it would.

Sophie and Mina are really interesting characters and the meaning of best friends. When Mina is murdered and Sophie wakes up next to her body, only knowing this is where Mina needed to be she knows that she’s in trouble. After she passes out again the police find drugs in her pocket. No one will listen to her not her parents, not the police, not anyone and if no one is going to help she’s going to have to follow Mina’s clues herself and hopefully Mina’s killer.

I love a thriller with decent twists and turns that no one can see coming, I cannot ruin it but the ending is something else that, out of everyone I’ve spoken to, no one can see coming. I did have some small worries about getting stuck into this book and the character of Sophie mainly because I didn’t want her portrayed badly because in the first few pages I really did fall in love with her and completely understand what she was going through.

There are also some very interesting relationships as you go through the novel, there are very little clues that I can give without unraveling the plot but just as you think, ok I know what’s going on here Sharpe throws another curveball and you’re back where you started and eager for more. I stayed up a lot later than I should have reading this book and can 100% say that I didn’t regret it.

It’s no surprise that I’m giving Far From You 5 stars *****. Tess Sharpe is a fantastic writer and after finding out that this is also a debut I was even more excited to see what she has coming next. A breathtaking and fast paced read that any thriller fan will love, although one word of advice don’t start reading it when you have something important to do the next day because staying up all night reading is highly likely.

Review by Chloe Metzger

Book Review: A Boy Made of Blocks – Keith Stuart

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‘Life is and adventure, not a walk. That’s why it’s difficult’

Meet thirty-something Dad, Alex… He loves his wife Jody, but has forgotten how to show it. He loves his son but doesn’t understand him. Something has to change. And it needs to start with him. Meet eight-year-old Sam,beautiful, surprising, autistic. To him, the world is a puzzle he can’t solve on his own. But when Sam starts to play Minecraft, it opens up a place where Alex and Sam begin to re-discover both themselves, and each other… can one fragmented family put themselves back together, one piece at a time?

I was a sent a copy of this novel to review by Little Brown Books after sending a request for it. That said, I always aim to be fair and objective about anything I receive from both publishers and authors. A Boy made of Blocks is no different.

This novel is one that tugs on the heart strings, Alex is a father that has no idea how to bond with his autistic son, he hides at his job because he’s constantly terrified of messing up. It’s easy, at the beginning, to see Alex in a very negative light, as someone who just leaves his wife stuck at home and puts his head in the sand, but it’s more than that. Stuart has really tried to show the fears that parents have about a diagnosis, the constant struggle that they’re not good enough and the strain that it can have on families. Being open and honest with feelings like this takes away stigma for parents, and Stuart knows it all too well. While he’s clear that the character isn’t his own son, he has used his own experiences.

The bond is truly beautiful, but it’s also about Alex’s journey and Sam’s self-discovery. Not only is the novel well written but has well thought out development of both characters and plot, as well as having a strong subplot. It’s clear that Stuart has a talent for fiction, particularly as his past is primarily in writing non-fiction. The novel doesn’t try and be a how-to guide for parents of children with Autism, nor does it include facts of figures that wouldn’t fit the character, something which other authors have done.

I gave this five stars *****, this really is a heartwarming novel of family and how being ‘normal’ isn’t always the most important thing. I will admit that I didn’t feel that the ending was entirely accurate but that was ok because this is a novel, it’s not a memoir, nor is it even about the authors family. If you want a read about love, family, and self-discovery then this is the novel for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend for a more chilled read.