May Reads
May Posts
Inbox by Google
Google Keep
Goodreads
Blogger
Bloglovin’
I suppose this is not necessarily the most informative, or even necessarily all that useful, but I wanted to let you guys know a bit more about how I blog and I suppose help out anyone else who might be in need of a few apps to get them organised. Is my way of doing things the best? Probably not, but it’s what I know and I hope you find it vaguely interesting if nothing else.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.
An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming team mate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.
I have always been a fan of Sophie Kinsella so to see she was writing a YA book meant I knew I wanted to read it. When I first read the blurb I was uncertain, it sounded interesting but I've never been a huge fan of YA issue books because they always felt too much like those episodes of tween dramas that were trying to teach you something. I've never been a fan of being preached at. This is written so well though that I really enjoyed it, it wasn’t so much an ‘issues book’ as a well written YA journey about a girl that has depression and social anxiety and her journey to find herself again and to readjust to life with her family.
The Girl At Midnight – Melissa Grey
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Urban Fantasy
My Rating:
Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.
Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.
Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.
But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.
When I started this book I will admit to getting a sense of deja vu. I was certain I’d read this story before, and I had in the form of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. But that is far too simplistic a comparison, there are a lot of very strong similarities in this book. A young girl raised in a world not her own by creatures that most would attribute to being fairytales? Yes. A war between two species with said girl being caught in the middle? Yes. A girl able to travel around the world simply using magical doors? Yes. There are more similarities than that, but that would be spoilers. You would think this would have turned me off of the book, but it didn’t. This happens in fantasy from time to time, I think Melissa Grey simply had the misfortune of me reading DoSaB before I ever found this book. I powered through, because the similarities weren’t so awful that I could not read, it was not a direct copy, it just happened to be similar I think. I just wanted to begin with this, so if I go with the biggest drawback I found there is no place for me to go with this review but up.
I am going to state now I did love this book, so my review will be coloured by all of this love I’m feeling for it. I liked the character of Echo, I was uncertain because of the similarities stated above, but I think the reason I persisted so willingly was because Echo was such an easy character to like. She enjoyed reading, so I could definitely relate, and her fascination with words was awesome. I found a few good words in this book, and it was definitely one of my favourite elements. In particular the German word for a face that needs a fist in it was hilarious. I told a friend at work and it has officially become our word for the week. Things like that are what make me love a story, the small details of a character that make them a bit more real, and Grey has done that so effectively with character of Echo. I also loved the fact she was a thief, not a hardcore one, but she definitely has a touch of sticky fingers when the need arises. I have a thing for thieves in books, don’t know what it is that makes me like them, I just do.
There is a romance in this book, and I was concerned it would be the obvious romance that we see far too often in fantasy novels, and it is in a way, but it is hardly touched upon. There are hints of romance, and there is a sort of love triangle I could see developing, but doesn’t dominate like it too often can. If anything it is the friendships of this book that reign. Ivy and Echo’s friendship was perfect, they were both so in sync as only best friends can be, but perfectly oblivious at the most inopportune moments, such as when we are first introduced to the character of Rowan and Echo is obviously hinting she wants a bit of alone time Ivy completely doesn’t get it, the same way me and my friends used to be, and still are really. I loved that. And I loved how Echo and Ivy talked honestly about things other than boys, but about Echo’s constant feeling of being an outsider, and Ivy comforts her, but doesn’t sugar coat it and admits, rather unintentionally, that she isn’t part of their world, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she doesn’t have a family. Something that becomes obvious as the book progresses. I think it was the small scenes that appear insignificant, but mean everything in terms of character development, that Grey did best, and really made me love this book.
Another good point are the different species, there are dragons (love me a good dragon book) and there are the Avicen, a bird race, and they are a bit more unique than you see in some books. I liked that they stood out and were written in a new and different way, because sometimes dragons can get a bit boring, so I think the Avicen are a good race to have warring with them. It was interesting, and I enjoyed it, it was a mega plus point for this book.
Overall I adored it, I couldn’t quite give it a 5 star rating, but I adored it none the less. I cannot wait for the next book to see how this story will develop.
Has anyone else read it, if so let me know your thought. And did you notice the same similarities as me? Do you find it off-putting when you notice stories having the same idea as another book you’ve read or do you take it as it comes?
The Books I’ve Read and Can Recommend:
And What I Would Take If I Were Going Away
It’s another bank holiday weekend!
If you aren’t British you may not fully appreciate how exciting this is, but bank holiday weekends are what we Brits live for. And this is the last one until August, and after August? Well… it’s a long dark winter after that where we all hold out for Christmas. But enough about how excited I am about three day weekends and more about my week.
I’ve been busy! One of my friends is leaving for Australia next week so I’ve been trying to fit in as much social time with her as possible before she leaves me. This meant going for Japanese food at Miyako Teppanyaki in Birmingham and experiencing my first taste of Japanese food. Did I like it? Yes, it was quite tasty, but damn there is a lot of food offered in those set menus. I felt so full afterwards I wanted to lie down and let me food digest, but I resisted. Mostly because I needed to get a move on for us all to get the train. I became one of those people who took photos of their food, I did resist the urge to instagram it though. That was a fun evening, although tiring because I’d been out of the house all day working in Leamington so I’d been training it all over the place and I mostly just wanted to sleep, but it’s always nice to do something a little different.
Then I filled more hours with my jet setting friend on Friday after work, mostly by following her around whilst she shopped for all her travelling essentials, of which there were many. Let me tell you, shopping when it’s muggy and humid out is not that fun, especially not when you’ve walked a mile to the shopping centre in the first place. I have lived and learnt from that experience. Now I am a bit sad that she’ll be leaving me soon, I know she’s going to be back, but it’s always a bit sad when a friend goes, no matter how long it’s for. I am also really excited for her, because this is such a huge adventure for her, so I cannot wait to here all about it every step of the way.
Now onto books, a very central point of this blog. If you follow me on instagram you know I am a bit of a shopaholic. I kind of binged a bit with my shopping over the last week and I’ve had various deliveries into my home. I think I’ll do a little photo shoot of the purchases that have arrived over the past week. This may include a book I received last week, but I don’t care.
Now, you’d think with all these new buys I’d have been reading loads, right? Not so much. I’ve been reading, but I’ve not been enjoying some of my books as much as I’d like. I don’t know if it’s reading fatigue, or if it’s that I’m not reading books I enjoyed, but whatever it is I don’t approve. I’ve stopped and started a few books, and I’m even reading several books at the same time, something I’m really not a fan of, but oh well.
What I’ve Been Reading
New To Me
And that is my week. I’ve barely touched my computer this week, so I’m quite glad it is a bank holiday weekend, it gives me chance to try and catch up on my blogging. Reviews to write, random bookish thoughts to talk about and also plenty of reading to be done.
How has your weekend been? Have you done anything exciting with the decent weather we’ve been having? Tell me all about it, and if you’ve got any good book recommendations please offer them too me and dithering between wanting to binge on good fantasy reads and wanting to gorge myself on some good old YA contemporary reads, I’m feeling some school nostalgia coming on for summer, so please recommend away.
Posts
Social Icons