Claire Stevens's Blog, page 24

When We Collided by Emery Lord

We are seventeen and shattered and still dancing. We have messy, throbbing hearts, and we are stronger than anyone could ever know…

When We Collided is the story of Jonah and Vivi and how they meet one summer and their lives kind of ... collide.  Jonah and his older siblings are acting as surrogate parents to their younger siblings after the death of their father left their mum in a spiral of depression.  And Vivi has problems ofher own, however much she might try to sweep them under the carpet.

When We Collided is, on the face of it, quite a sweet summer book, but it has deeper undertones than a lot of the flim-flam summer books out there.  It deals a lot with mental health issues - grief, depression and bipolar disorder - in a way that feels very real, sympathetic and sensitive.

Vivi and Jonah's romance was a complicated one for me.  There were aspects that I really liked - they could be really sweet - but a lot of the time they didn't really mesh very well together.  Jonah was so stressed-out and straight-laced and Vivi was so out-there that their whole relationship seemed just to be based on physical attraction.  Which is fine and everything, except that they were also declaring their instalove for each other and I just didn't see what they were basing it on. There were swoony moments and I did root for them but  I felt the ending the author gave them was fitting.

As for Jonah and Vivi as individual characters, I much preferred Jonah to Vivi.  I felt he had a lot more depth to him than Vivi did, what with trying to balance caring for his younger siblings (who were hilarious and adorable) as well as trying to save his dad's restaurant from financial ruin.  Vivi, for all she had a fairly chequered past, came across as part Manic Pixie Dream Girl, part bland porridge.

I think I'd recommend this book - it was a nice enough readfor when you're kicking back by the pool on your summer holiday.

3.5 stars

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude.  Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violetquickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering facade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.

Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence... and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.

I was really surprised at how much I liked this book!  It was recommended to me, but the cover made it look like The Selection (ugh) or Matched (snore), so I didn't bother picking it up for ages.  I'm really gladI did in the end though, because it was pretty great.

On the face of it, The Jewel has an awful lot in common with other dystopians:  girl born into abject poverty, change of circumstance, makeover scene, yadda yadda yadda.  However, the storyline is a bit more gruesome than other dytopians - girls sold into slavery for their reproductive organs - and the worldbuilding was a lot better than other dystopians.  I rattled through this book in little over a day.

I liked Violet and I especially liked her relationship with Ash, even though it was totally instalove-tastic.  Violet despairs of her situation, but she never gives up and rolls over.  Even at the end, when it looks like all is lost, she clings onto hope.

As the story progresses, you learn more about the horrible things that are happening in The Jewel and it actually elevated what would otherwise have been a fairly bog-standard dystopian to almost Hunger Games levels of cool.

Yep, this is definitely recommended.  I'm off to get the sequel.

4.5 stars

The Savages by Matt Whyman

Sasha Savage is in love with Jack - a handsome, charming ... vegetarian. Which wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that Sasha's family are very much 'carnivorous'. Behind the family facade all is not as it seems. Sasha's father rules his clan with an iron fist and her mother's culinary skills are getting more adventurous by the day. When a too-curious private detective starts to dig for truths, the tight-knit family starts to unravel - as does their sinister taste in human beings . . .

So this was a pretty good book about afamily with a creepy secret- they're cannibals.  This isn't a spoiler, by the way: even though the word cannibal isn't actually used until about halfway through the book, it's pretty obvious what the Savage's 'feasts' consist of.

I liked the dark humour the author uses to lift what would otherwise be quite a horrific storyline.  
The humour probably isn't to everyone's taste (no pun intended), but I liked it.

The characters seem very ... ordinary, considering their horrible culinary tastes.  Sasha was really well-adjusted, considering grisly murders took place in her house on a regular basis, and I liked that she rebelled against her family by becoming vegetarian.  I wasn't really surprised her brother was a sociopath, though. 

I guess if I had to criticise, I'd say that not much really happens.  the main plot revolves around the fact that a private investigator is poking around Mr Savage's business dealings and that Sasha is dating a vegetarian.  You just know that someone is goingtoend up in the cooking pot at the end and while I liked the twist at the end, there wasn't enough plot in the rest of the book to really excite me.

3 stars

Waiting On Wednesday - Things I Should Have Known by Claire LaZebnik

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine and it’s a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is Things I Should Have Known by Claire LaZebnik.  Here's the blurb:

An unforgettable story about autism, sisterhood, and first love that s perfect for fans of Jenny Han, Sophie Kinsella, and Sarah Dessen.

Meet Chloe Mitchell, a popular Los Angeles girl who s decided that her older sister, Ivy, who s on the autism spectrum, could use a boyfriend. Chloe already has someone in mind: Ethan Fields, a sweet, movie-obsessed boy from Ivy s special needs class. Chloe would like to ignore Ethan s brother, David, but she can't: Ivy and Ethan aren t comfortable going out on their own so Chloe and David have to tag along.

Soon Chloe, Ivy, David, and Ethan form a quirky and wholly lovable circle. And as the group bonds over frozen yogurt dates and movie nights, Chloe is forced to confront her own romantic choices and the realization that it s okay to be a different kind of normal.
 
 What about you? What’s your Waiting on Wednesday pick this week?

Waiting On Wednesday - Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine and it’s a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde.  Here's the blurb:
 
Three friends. Two love stories. One convention.

Charlie likes to stand out. She s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie s long-time crush on her isn t as one-sided as she thought.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.
Queens of Geek, an empowering young adult novel by Jen Wilde, is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself.
 
What about you? What’s your Waiting on Wednesday pick this week?

Waiting On Wednesday - The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine and it’s a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend.  Here's the blurb:

Milo has two great moms, but he's never known what it's like to have a dad. When Milo's doctor suggests asking his biological father to undergo genetic testing to shed some light on Milo's extreme allergies, he realizes this is a golden opportunity to find the man he's always wondered about.

Hollis's mom Leigh hasn't been the same since her other mom, Pam, passed away seven years ago. But suddenly, Leigh seems happy—giddy, even—by the thought of reconnecting with Hollis's half-brother Milo. Hollis and Milo were conceived using the same sperm donor. They met once, years ago, before Pam died.

Now Milo has reached out to Hollis to help him find their donor. Along the way, they locate three other donor siblings, and they discover the true meaning of the other F-word: family.
 
What about you? What’s your Waiting on Wednesday pick this week?

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel’s convinced she’s found her solution: a teen boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman) who’s haunted by a family tragedy is looking for a partner.


This was a really moving book that dealt with mental illness, family tragedy and suicide with a surprising amount of grace.
 
Ultimately, a book about a teen suicide pact is never going to be the most cheery of reads.  This could have gone so badly wrong and turned into an utter misery-fest, but instead it turned out to be a gentle, emotional and ultimately hopeful story.
 
Aysel was an excellent narrator and although I didn’t fully buy into the reasoning behind her decision to kill herself (she mentioned the hard time she was getting at school and her difficult home life, but I didn’t see evidence of either of those things) I could get behind her as a character.  She showed a lot of development as a character across the novel and by the end I really loved her.
 
Roman I could take or leave.  His situation was so much worse than Aysel’s and I could totally see why he felt he could no longer go on, but I didn’t like the way he kept trying to guilt Aysel into sticking with their pact, telling her not to flake out on him, when she was so obviously starting to get a more hopeful outlook on life.  I did like the dynamic between Roman and Aysel in the bits where he wasn’t guilting her, though.  They had a very sweet friendship that blossomed slowly into romance.
 
Although there was an emphasis on ‘My Love Will Save You’ (which I don’t think is a great message to be sending across - especially when dealing with depression and suicide.  After all, who in real life meets their significant other on a website dedicated to making suicide pacts with strangers) there was also an emphasis on the power of actually talking to someone about your problems.
 
The narrative was emotional without being gloomy and often used humour to lighten the tension and if the plot was a bit low on action it was made up for with the exploration of a really relevant and important issue.
 
4.5 stars

The Graces by Laure Eve

Everyone said the Graces were witches.

They moved through the corridors like sleek fish, ripples in their wake. Stares followed their backs and their hair.

They had friends, but they were just distractions. They were waiting for someone different.

All I had to do was show them that person was me.


River and her mother have just moved to a small, coastal town after the mysterious disappearance of River’s father.  Their house is a bit drab and the local school isn’t very inspiring so when River happens upon three glamorous siblings, the Graces, she is immediately drawn to them.  The Graces may or may not be witches, but they’re certainly the most interesting people in town and River is drawn to them like a moth to a flame.
 
I really had mixed feelings about this book.  On the one hand, I rattled through it pretty quickly and it really did hold my interest throughout.  The Graces were really beguiling in a nonchalant, exotic dilettante way and I found myself as enthralled by them as River was.  There wasn’t really a lot happening with the plot, but what did happen was a nice, easy read and with a bit of Grace-type fairy dust, it lifted it up to better-than-boring.
 
I didn’t really connect with River as a character.  She was pretty pretentious and for all that she didn’t want to get chewed up and spit out like all the other kids at school, she  really wore her heart on her sleeve when it came to the Graces, even though she kept telling the reader how cool she was being.
 
The writing in this book is, sadly, a bit flat.  There’s no humour or spark to lift it out of the doldrums and unfortunately vast tracts of it come off as just a bit navel-gazey.  It gave the impression that the book was written/set when emo was still a thing.  There were also some truly bizarre turns of phrase, like this one, to describe how the love interest smells:
 
Like a thicker, manlier kind of vanilla.
 
I’m trying to imagine what a ‘thick, manly version of vanilla’ smells like and I’m coming up an utter blank.  I get that clichés are a bad thing, but this odd kind of simile doesn’t really draw me into a story.
 
This book actually reminded me a lot of Twilight.  I certainly didn’t love it as much as I loved Twilight (although I’ve never re-read Twilight as I have the distinct feeling it wouldn’t give me the spine-tingles these days), but the parallels are definitely there.  Girl moves to small town with single parent and gets involved with dangerous, mysterious family.
 
I hadn’t realised that The Graces would be the first in a series, but I’d be mildly interested in seeing what the second book has in store.
 
3 stars

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown. 
 
I don’t really know what I was expecting from this book, but it turned out to be pretty good.
 
It starts off kind of dull and cold and miserable, but it soon perks up and by the time I was a couple of chapters in, I was really enjoying it.
 
I think the miserable beginning is down to the viewpoint it’s told from - the book alternates chapters between the three sisters and Katharine the Poisoner is up first.  She’s not having an amazing time eating poison every day, so I think that’s why the beginning of the book is a bit miserable.  Once we get on to Arsinoe in the next segment, things get a bit happier.
 
I liked the three sisters - they had enough similarities and differences to make things interesting and to make me want to keep reading, but for me the best aspect was the worldbuilding.  It was really thoughtful and slightly creepy.  The story is set on this island where people are gifted with different abilities, like the ability to eat poison without getting sick, or the ability to bloom flowers or ripen fruit with a wave of your hand.  And that’s fine, but when outsiders visit from the mainland, you start to see how outsiders view the island, and that’s when it gets really interesting.
 
The plot itself is slow-moving at first and for the first three quarters of the book there isn’t a great deal that happens.  I still found it very readable, though, as I was really into the characters and the relationships between them and also the setting and background of the island’s traditions.  The last quarter of the book ramps the action up a lot, but I’d have preferred a bit more tension/plot in the beginning.
 
I didn’t realise this was a series - if I had I’d have waited a bit before reading it as the next book isn’t out for a while yet (September in the UK, I think?).  I really want to read it as Three Dark Crowns ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and I’m itching to find out what happens next.
 
4 stars

Waiting On Wednesday - Ten Things I Can See From Here by Carrie Mac

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine and it’s a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is Ten Things I Can See From Here by Carrie Mac.  Here's the blurb:
 
Think positive.
Don t worry; be happy.
Keep calm and carry on.

Maeve has heard it all before. She s been struggling with severe anxiety for a long time, and as much as she wishes it was something she could just talk herself out of, it s not. She constantly imagines the worst, composes obituaries in her head, and is always ready for things to fall apart. To add to her troubles, her mom the only one who really gets what Maeve goes through is leaving for six months, so Maeve will be sent to live with her dad in Vancouver.

Vancouver brings a slew of new worries, but Maeve finds brief moments of calm (as well as even more worries) with Salix, a local girl who doesn t seem to worry about anything. Between her dad s wavering sobriety, her very pregnant stepmom insisting on a home birth, and her bumbling courtship with Salix, this summer brings more catastrophes than even Maeve could have foreseen. Will she be able to navigate through all the chaos to be there for the people she loves?
 
What about you? What’s your Waiting on Wednesday pick this week?