Only Ever Yours - Louise O'Neill

I would just like to begin this review by congratulating Louise O'Neill for winning the 2015 YA Book Prize for this book. I wasn't very far into the book when the winner was announced, but now that I've read it, I can say with absolute certainty that it was well-deserved!

freida and isabel were best friends, right up until their final year of School. On the seventeenth anniversary of their design, the eves will be placed into the third of society that will best suit them, and they will begin their usefulness. This will either be as a companion to a wealthy Inheritant, as a concubine, or as a chastity.

As the Ceremony approaches, the eves start to fall apart - and they need to be perfect, if they want to be a companion. And when the Inheritants start visiting the School, it's every eve for herself.

The world Louise has created is so eerie, because this could actually happen. In this post-apocalyptic word, freida is obsessed with watching the Nature Channel to see what the world used to be like before companions and concubines.

At first, the lack of capitalisation confused me, and then it hit me - Louise is a genius! The eves names are in lower case because they are less important than the Inheritants, who have capitalised names, and even the names themselves are more important - Darwin, Albert, Isaac, Sigmund etc. They have been raised to choose which girl they want as their companion, knowing that they can also have the concubines when they get bored.

I think the biblical imagery is important in this book too. The Father created the Noah project that saved the human race, and everyone is thankful to Him. Companions can only produce sons now, since they have been modified that way, so eves must be designed to carry on the race. 

For every Inheritant, three times as many eves are designed, to give them a wider choice, as well as making sure each third has enough eves. They are taught for twelve years how to please men and what men like - it's sick, but it was interesting to read, and it's message was so powerful. It really challenges how men treat women in our own society, and shows us the worst case scenario of what could happen if things don't change.

I really enjoyed this book, the front cover perfectly encapsulates what the book is about, and that is what drew me to it in the first place. I will definitely be recommending this book to whoever will listen to me!

Verdict: 4/5

Hook's Daughter - Heidi Schulz

My best friend bought me this book for my birthday, and it shot straight to the top of my to-read pile. I even took it with me to Disneyland Paris last weekend, but I didn't get a lot of reading done there! 

Also, I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by it's cover - but, look how pretty!! I believe it's called Hook's Revenge too, but my copy is Hook's Daughter. It was very hard to find on Goodreads because of this.

Jocelyn Hook is the daughter of the infamous Captain Hook. When he is killed by the crocodile of Neverland, Jocelyn is given a letter he wrote before he died. Jocelyn is at finishing school when she reads this - and jumps at the chance to run away and follow in her father's footsteps. Let's face it, the daughter of Neverland's most famous pirate was never going to be a lady!

I really enjoyed this book. Peter Pan is one of the best children's books I've ever read, so I love reading spin-offs and adaptations of it - and this one included Smee! He was my absolute favourite when I was younger, so it was lovely to see him on the pages when I was reading. 

Also, I found the narrator to be really funny, and it was refreshing to read a book from an outsider's perspective. I'm so used to reading first person perspective books that this one felt like I could be the narrator, as I was seeing everything play out the same way they were.

I can't wait for the next book in the series, The Pirate Code. 

Verdict: 4/5

The Last Leaves Falling - Sarah Benwell

My auntie - Blondie Camps - gave me a copy of The Last Leaves Falling for my birthday, which is March 21st. As you can see, I couldn't wait that long and opened it early, not to mention finished it 4 days early as well. I'm SO glad I read it as soon as I had it, it is amazing!

Sora has ALS - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - and he will die. At first, I didn't think I'd be able to finish the book knowing that, but I don't regret it at all. I got very attached to him and his story, despite knowing I would have my heartbroken somewhere along the line. I loved his family, especially his grandparents, Ojiisan and Bah-Ba. The love he is surrounded by as he deteriorates is overwhelming  - and the friends he meets of the chatroom KyoToTeenz, Kaito and Mai, are wonderful people. For someone who has always been judged for his condition, he's finally met someone - two of them, in fact - who won't.

There is a lot of hatred directed at the teenagers in Japan, through the medium of anonymous emails trying to induct them into a mass suicide pact. But in all of this hatred, there is so much love. The love Sora family have for him, that he has for them, as well as the love of Kaito and Mai. Everyone has dreams, and not everyone follows them, but they should, because some people - like Sora - just can't.

I loved this book, it was thoroughly beautiful. It really made me take a good look at my life and how happy and lucky I am. I can't wait to read what Sarah writes next. I don't know Sarah as well as I would like to, as I've only met her once, at YALC last year. But I know two things about her: she wears amazing t-shirts, and she writes beautiful books. She also wrote happy birthday in the copy she signed for me, so I love her for that. Thank you for all the feels.

Verdict: 5/5, of course! :)

Lola and the Boy Next Door - Stephanie Perkins

This is the second instalment in the series, following on from Anna and the French Kiss. You can read my review of that here.

Lola lives in San Francisco and designs her own clothes. She and her boyfriend, Max - the rocker - have only been going out for a while. But one day, Calliope and Cricket Bell - the twins who used to live next door - move back home.

Calliope has never liked Lola, but Cricket was the one that got away - but now he's back. Lola must decide who she wants to be with, the rocker or the inventor? Personally, I don't like when two boys are put against each other like that, like ooh who will she pick? But in this book, you see what happened in her past, and that really influences her present and future, so I didn't slate the book for it. :) 

I really enjoyed this book, just as much as I enjoyed the first one. I especially loved how Stephanie placed Anna and Étienne into certain parts of the story, so the readers are reassured they're still together, and we see how they're doing since their own story 'ended'. It's one of my favourite things about the series, that each character's paths cross at one point or another, it makes them feel more real.

I love stories like this, and the series is definitely one of my favourites. I'll be posting my review of Isla very soon!

Verdict: 5/5

Murder Most Unladylike - Robin Stevens

Murder Most Unladylike is one of the best books I have ever read! It's going down in my all-time favourites list.

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are in a secret Detective Society at Deepdean School for Girls. So far, the biggest case they've ever had to solve is the mystery of Lavinia's missing tie. So when Hazel discovers Miss Bell, their science mistress, dead in the Gym, it comes as quite a shock to her. Daisy, however, is rather excited that they have their first serious case.

But between Hazel discovering Miss Bell's body, and her coming back with Daisy five minutes later, the body has gone. This makes the girls certain that this was no accident - Miss Bell had been murdered. And the school are trying to cover it up - saying Miss Bell resigned.

So while Hazel and Daisy are desperately trying to solve the case, they know that when they have, they will need to convince everyone that Miss Bell's sudden 'disappearance' was actually a murder. 

I really enjoyed this book! It has so much scandal, and all the characters were funny and incredibly likeable. Also, reading a book set in 1934 was such a nice change from always reading contemporary books. 

I loved trying to guess who did it, which I didn't. It really helped me that they would review suspects along the way, so you could keep track on the ideas floating around. It had such a good ending as well! I can't wait to read Arsenic For Tea.

My copy is really precious to me, now that I've had it signed by Robin at UKYA Extravaganza. She was so lovely - reminded me a lot of one of my best friends, actually - and I'm so glad I've met her, because I have a feeling that if Arsenic for Tea is as good as this, she'll become one of my favourite authors.

On a seperate note, I'm totally gonna try and make 'bunbreak' catch on with my colleagues at work. I much prefer it to 'tea break' :)

Seriously though, it's a brilliant book and you should all read it if you haven't already!

Verdict: 5/5

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You - Ally Carter

This is the first instalment of the Gallagher Girl series. So far, I've read the first and second books, which I loved, and now I've made it my goal to finish the series this year.

Cammie Morgan is the daughter of the headmistress of her boarding school. But the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is not a normal school - it's a school for spies. Cammie is in her sophomore year (UK translation is year 11, I believe) which means she now knows fourteen languages fluently and now has clearance to enter a sublevel under the school to learn about Covert Operations with her best friends, Liz and Bex.

Her Covert Operations teacher, Joe Solomon, is a mystery to everyone. And he's even more of a mystery to Cammie when she discovers that he may have known her father, a spy who disappeared on a mission.

On a trip into the local town, Cammie meets Josh, and falls hopelessly in love with him - and at spy school, the girls aren't taught about love. Anything that compromises her secret life as a spy is forbidden, so Cammie has to choose between love and loyalty to her field.

I really enjoyed this book, the girls are all brilliant and their adventures are so exciting to read about.

My review of the second book will be up soon! (I'm currently trying to review books I've read in the past, since I didn't have a blog when I read them and I feel that they deserve some recognition)

Burn for Burn - Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

This is the first book in the Burn for Burn series, and I read it as Addicted to YA's Book of the Month challenge. Now that I've read this one, I can't wait to read the next instalment. And luckily, I already have it ready to read!

Burn for Burn is told from the perspective of three girls. At first, I found it difficult to keep up with a three-way narrative - I much prefer a split narrative with only two characters to concentrate on - but once I got to know each girl, I didn't even need to read the chapter heading to see whose chapter it was, I just knew. And it became really easy for me to read - and very gripping! I got through most of it in the space of two days, finishing it just before I went to sleep last night.

Lilia is pretty, popular and rich. All she wants is to protect her little sister, Nadia, from the boys at her school. She freaks out when she begins to suspect she's hooking up with one of her friends. Kat's fling with Alex Lind was short-lived, as she catches him with some other girl in his car. But she has Rennie, her ex-best friend and serial shit-stirrer, in her sightss instead. Mary spent four years away, thanks to horrible bully Reeve, and now she's back to show him she survived everything he did to her. One day, these unlikely friends decide to get their revenge on Alex, Reeve and Rennie. The good girl, the loner girl and the new girl pulling pranks? No one will suspect a thing ;)

It was such an exciting read, and the ending was completely unexpected! I'm dying to know what happens, what a cliffhanger to end on! I'm just glad the next book is already out so I can find out what happens.

Verdict: 5/5

The Year of the Rat - Clare Furniss

I actually read this book last July, when my auntie - @blondiecamps - sent me a signed copy in the post. This is one of my favourite books, which is why I am posting a review of it on my blog, in addition to reviews of those I've recently read.

Pearl loses her mother at fifteen years of age. She died in childbirth, but her baby sister, Rose, survived - the Rat. Pearl has no affection towards the Rat, and blames her for everything that's gone wrong in her life since she was born - the Rat took away their mother, the Rat ruined Pearl's relationship with her stepfather, the Rat's father.

But Pearl's mother is not truly gone, and still visits Pearl to check up on her. The book's events play out over one entire year, as Pearl must come to terms with her mother's death, but this is difficult for her when the Rat serves as a living reminder of what happened. Will she ever grow to love her little sister, Rose?

I really enjoyed this book, it was different from anything I'd read, and it was interesting to explore how people cope living with survivors when someone has died. I can't wait for Clare's next book! And it was so lovely to finally meet Clare at the UKYA Extravaganza, as I finally got to thank her in person for my signed copy!

Verdict: 5/5 :)

The Sin Eater's Daughter - Melinda Salisbury

I'd bought this to read about a month ago, but I'd been reading as many books as I could for the UKYA Extravaganza. But when I saw all the positive reviews and recommendations on a recent UKYA Chat, that Melinda was a guest author on, I knew I had to put down everything else I was reading and read it straight away!

This will not be a biased review, because I genuinely loved the book, but I think I need to put it out there that I love Melinda Salisbury! She sends me useful articles for my university dissertation, gives me a present at her event, and is all-round a wonderful friend and author.

The Sin Eater's Daughter follows Twylla, a young girl who is living in the castle of Lormere, as an executioner for those who have committed treason. She can kill these criminals with just her touch, because she is Daunen Embodied - a girl chosen by the Gods to represent their daughter on earth. To prove she has this divine quality, she must swallow a vial of poison, called Morningsbane, and prove that it does not kill her. This makes her skin poisonous, and only those with divine right - the Royal family - can touch her and survive.

Had Twylla not been chosen by the Gods, she would still have a destiny. Instead of killing people, she would conduct the ritual known as Sin Eating, like her mother before her. This involves consuming a feast upon the coffin of the deceased, an item of food for each sin they committed. It is of paramount importance to the ceremony that each sin is Eaten, or else the dead person's soul could not be committed to the afterlife, for their uneaten sins would not have been forgiven.

But Twylla gave up this destiny when she decided to go with the Queen to Lormere, be Daunen Embodied and become betrothed to marry Prince Merek soon. Once she is Queen, she will no longer be Daunen Embodied, and she will no longer have to cruelly take people's lives, which she hates. Twylla left behind her mother, the Sin Eater, and her sweet little sister, who would become the next Sin Eater in her place.

One day Twylla is given a new guard, Lief, a job not many choose to accept given her dangerous skin. Lief sees her as a person rather than a poison, and treats her as such. Theirs is a friendship of equals, something unheard of between a guard and his lady, despite the fact that Twylla is to be the next Queen of Lormere.

How can Twylla be happy with a life she has had no control over? Is everything as it seems? (Trying not to spoil anything, so I'm sorry if my review is vague!)

This book had be gasping audibly as I read it, there were so many twists I wouldn't have guessed, and it was written beautifully. Melinda has created an amazing world, and I don't want the characters I love being taken from me in the next book. I'm so glad this is going to be a trilogy, I'm too invested in it to be a stand-alone novel.

Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, why haven't you?! Read it now!!

Verdict: 5/5 <3

Geek Girl: All That Glitters - Holly Smale

Warning: I don't advise reading this review if you haven't read the other books in the series, particularly Picture Perfect, because this review mentions a few spoilers from it and I don't want to ruin it for anybody!

I was so happy that Netgalley approved me to review this book. I downloaded it onto my kindle the day before its release, giving me crucial extra hours to finish the book in time for Saturday. And I did it!

I finished it on Friday night, and as always, I regretted getting through it so fast, because now I have to wait - I don't even know how long I've got to wait - for the next one. However, I do have Geek Drama to read, which I haven't decided whether to read straight away, or save as a 'snack' between the books and read later on. Most likely, I'll read it in March or April, because I can't bear to leave it unread on my shelf. 

But, I digress.

All That Glitters pretty much continues where Picture Perfect left off. Harriet has not long been back from New York, and is ready to start sixth form as a late arrival. With Nat at college, she only has Toby, her stalker, for a friend, so she makes Harriet-style plans and lists of how to make friends. And after a shaky start, it seems to work.

Harriet then has to miss school for a modelling job in Morocco. This time, Annabel decides to accompany her, leaving behind Richard and Tabitha, my favourite comedy duo! Modelling is hard when all Harriet can think about is her ex-boyfriend and ex-model Nick Hidaka. Their break-up destroyed Harriet, and I must admit a little a little part of me died too, because they were such a lovely couple. Right from the very first book, I have been emotionally invested in the life of Harriet Manners.

Of course, I love Wilbur, with a bur not an iam, and I miss him terribly. As he is no longer Harriet's agent, we don't see much of him anymore, so I'd love a Wilbur revival sometime soon, but really I'm just grateful he's still in the books, even if it was just for a little while.

You would be able to tell how much I loved this book simply by looking at the amount of highlights I made on my kindle, and will transfer to the paperback when it's released, and how many memorable quotes I've written in my reading journal to make sure I don't forget them.

I absolutely loved this book, and I feel like the series keeps getting better and better. Personally, my favourite is still Picture Perfect, because I love New York City, so unless Harriet gets a modelling contract with Disney, I can't see my favourite book changing. I might have to write some fanfiction to satisfy my love of Disney and Geek Girl.

YALC, July 2014. I look terrible but I was so happy!

I'm really happy with Harriet's character development through the books. She is longer, at least not all of the time, the girl that will hide under the table at the Clothes Show Live. She is confident, brave, and trying to make more friends. Sadly, she wants to find someone exactly like her, and I don't think there's anyone like Harriet Manners. Honestly, we are so alike. For example, at YALC last year, I sat in a corner and didn't talk, but at UKYA Extravaganza this weekend, I made friends! Friends I hope to stay in contact with. And I love how Harriet knows a lot of facts; I feel like I've learnt more reading Holly's four books than I have in three years at university!

Meeting Holly Smale, February 2015 (wearing the glasses I won!)

But as the book nears a close, Harriet must choose who her real friends are, she needs to realise that 'all that glitters is not gold'. I thought the message of this book was so important; it is better to have a few friends that truly care about you, than tonnes of friends who wouldn't care about you when it matters. I've experience that, and it's lovely that younger readers will know this before they get hurt.

I don't actually regret a single second I spent reading this book, despite the wait for the next one. I took it everywhere, and it cheered me up when I'd had a bad shift at work, or had no friends in my university lecture, and it was just such a brilliant book that I know the next one will be worth the long wait. 

On a personal note, meeting Holly again this weekend was the icing on top of the cake that was an absolutely brilliant day. I had such a brilliant time at the UKYA Extravaganza, and  I was first in the queue to meet Holly afterwards. Also, I was lucky enough to win the glasses I'm wearing in the most recent picture, and I absolutely adore them! This week started really badly for me, but it ended really well. And that is thanks to all my bookish friends, authors and connections such as Netgalley! 

I can also confirm that Holly is still one of the nicest people I have ever met, and I think she will probably always be one of my favourite authors. I'll definitely be reading Geek Girl to my daughter, if I have one.

Verdict: 5/5