Book Review: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. 

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

**

I've seen this book on goodreads a couple of times, and honestly I didn't quite know what to make of it from the synopsis. I think I've spent so much of my time reading dystopian and fantasy books that contemporaries kind of lost their appeal for me, so I'm trying desperately to change that!

My friend Stacey actually recommended I read this book after I told her to check out Crow's Row by Julie Hockley, and I have to admit it was a little hard for me to get into first of all (but to be honest I find it hard to get into a lot of books so this could be saying a great deal more about me than the book itself).

Let me just say, that I LOVE the whole idea of someone re-creating the Ripper murders. Not in real life, obviously. But in a story, it's something that I've never come across, strangely enough. The idea is completely unique - along with the ghost hunting squad. I loved the whole idea of a murderer no one could see, it's completely creepy. 

I'm kind of on the fence about the main character, Rory. I do like her a lot, but sometimes she could say the most idiotic things. Like when someone was murdered near her school so classes were cancelled, she wasn't scared or upset or anything, the only thing she could think of was that she could miss her hockey lesson. 

"There was nothing I could do. Jazza just didn't see the positive side of this. So I continued eating my sausages and let her have her moment. I was already thinking about the joy I'd feel in not walking to the hockey field and not standing in the goal and not getting hit with hockey balls."

Like, really Rory? REALLY? Someone just DIED. And you want people to see the 'positive side' of it? This just irritated me to no end and I kind of hated Rory for a few chapters. There were also a couple of moments when I rolled my eyes at Rory for fretting about the most annoying things. Like what to wear to a pub. I guess because I'm English I've never had to worry about anything like that, but even if I was in another country, I wouldn't have a meltdown over something stupid like what to wear. 

I really, really loved how much Johnson knew about English culture and how we tend to talk. I cannot tell you how many times I have read a book written by (sorry to generalise) an American author with an 'Enlgish' character in it, and said character sound like they've jumped straight out of a Monty Python sketch.  It really does make me cringe and just go, "No, no, no, no, no, no, EVERYTHING YOU'RE DOING IS WRONG."
I definitely did not have this problem with TNOTS, everything was very well researched and I did not suffer from second hand embarrassment - so thank you Maureen!

Also this made me laugh:

"England and Britain and the United Kingdom are not the same thing. England is the country. Britain is the island containing England, Scotland, and Wales. The United Kingdom is the formal designation of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as a political entity. If you mess this up, you will be corrected. Repeatedly."

I HAD TO LAUGH AT THIS BECAUSE IT'S SO TRUE. Same as when call an English 'British'. No, no, no technically no one can have a British accent because it would have to be some sort of mutated mix of an English, Scottish and Welsh accent and you'd have a very hard time of finding anyone who could understand you with an accent like that.
Anyway, I'm just a snob about these things but it was funny that Maureen chose to put it in there. Like I say, she's very true to how English people and how England really is. 

Other characters I liked were Boo, Jazza and Callum. I also adore Stephen after he told Rory about himself and how he has 'the sight'. It really made my heart go out to him and I can't wait to see him more in the second book (which I'm currently reading). I really loved and felt for Alistair, not a lot of authors really go into a lot of depth with secondary characters, and when they do I find myself not really caring a bit. But Maureen does it so well and captured my interest that he really did become one of my favourites. One thing that (again) annoyed me about Rory was how she just started getting it on with Jerome right next to Alistair, just after he told her how much he wanted to leave Wexford. Like this girls selfishness really, really got to me. Again, I hated her for a little while afterward. Speaking of Jerome, I feel kinda... Ehh towards him. I don't know if this was done on purpose, but I didn't really get much from his character, other than that he has some weird obsession with the Ripper murders, past and present. I just didn't like him much really. He wasn't in it a whole lot so I didn't feel anything when he and Rory were together.

The Ripper guy - Alexander Newman - was f-ing SCARY. I really loved this. I literally had to look around my room before I turned any pages because I was just so freaked out! When he came to the window while Rory was trying to get through, I just lost my shit. They way he was described was so creepy and I actually had to turn my light on while I was reading, so props to Maureen for that. 

My only complaint about the writing is that some of the things I just... Didn't... Care about? Like when Rory would ramble on about her family and stuff. I know rambling is part of her character, but honestly I don't need to read 5,000 pages on your uncles freezers. Sorry.

Overall, I gave The Name of the Star 4/5 stars. I loved the plot and the secondary characters, but the protagonist really did irk me a bit. 

Once again, thank you for reading, and I'll see you soon!

The Name of the Star on
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Book Review: Crow's Row by Julie Hockley

For college student Emily Sheppard, the thought of spending a summer alone in New York is much more preferable than spending it in France with her parents. Just completing her freshman year at Callister University, Emily faces a quiet summer in the city slums, supporting herself by working at the campus library. During one of her jogs through the nearby cemetery while visiting her brother Bill's grave, Emily witnesses a brutal killing-and then she blacks out. When Emily regains consciousness, she realizes she's been kidnapped by a young crime boss and his gang. She is hurled into a secret underworld, wondering why she is still alive and for how long.

Held captive in rural Vermont, she tries to make sense of her situation and what it means. While uncovering secrets about her brother and his untimely death, Emily falls in love with her very rich and very dangerous captor, twenty-six year- old Cameron. She understands it's a forbidden love and one that won't allow her to return to her previous life. But love may not be enough to save Emily when no one even knows she is missing

**

Firstly, I have to point out that this book really wasn't what I was expecting. From the synopsis above, I expected something a lot darker. I suppose the subject matter itself is dark stuff, drugs, gangs, criminals and the like, but the book didn't delve too deeply into that. As well as the whole idea of the main character, Emily, being kidnapped. Well to be honest, most of the time... it just didn't feel like she was actually held against her will. She was free to walk the grounds of this house, swim in the pool, eat meals with the people she's living with. Now I'm not saying that if I was kidnapped and allowed to do all of that stuff, that I still wouldn't feel kidnapped, I'm just saying that Emily has a lot of freedom. She comes and goes as she pleases really. And she also didn't complain a lot of the time about her situation, either. 

“How long are you going to keep me here?” I drowsily continued.
Cameron pulled the glass out of my numbed hands and set it on the table next to me. “For as long as it takes.”
“And what are you going to do with me?” This came out as a whisper. My eyes were barely slit open.
Cameron paused on this question. He scanned my face, like the answer was written somewhere between the freckles.
“I don’t know”

Now I'm not saying that all this is necessarily a bad thing, it's somewhat understandable that Emily would feel comfortable, given the relationship between her captors and her late brother. However, it didn't really shock me that -gasp!- Emily started to fall in love with her captor. Until the questions and confusion started to pile up, it didn't really feel like Emily was in any immediate danger. I guess that may be mostly thanks to Cameron (swoon), but shhh. I plead Stockholm's.

What's great about the story and characters Julie Hockley created is that they make you think about morality and how the lines of right and wrong are easily blurred. I mean, Cameron our love interest, is (when you get down to it) a criminal. Probably of the worst kind. However, getting an inside view to his life both past and present, really makes you question how wrong what he's doing is. Sure, it would've been better for him and Emily if he was working in a bank or something. But despite appearances, Cameron really isn't a bad guy. He's mysterious, complicated and withholding, definitely. But on the same side of that coin he's honest (albeit when he wants to be) and very loyal. 

The romance unfolding between Emily and Cameron is a freaking roller coaster. At some points it was very will they/won't they? And others I just wanted Emily to run right outta there and never look back. I really, really kinda liked how, until the later portion of the book, we were always kept guessing as to who Cameron really was. How he was really feeling. 

“Whoever said that love hurts was wrong. Love is excruciating, especially when you can feel it slipping through your fingers and there is nothing you can do about it. Like someone was playing tug-of-war with my limbs, ripping to shreds whatever was left behind. What it would feel like when love was lost...I wouldn't survive that” 

As I mentioned, the book is pretty tame. I know a lot of people were expecting something... steamier, shall we say, during the intimate scenes between Cameron and Emily (I have to admit I am with those people). Even for a YA book, Hockley really doesn't get into many details. That being said, there are some things that happen toward the later half of the book where I was like, 'WOAH'. Without giving away spoilers, it certainly gets darker, and this is actually something I reaaaaally hope continues into the second book. My only complaint about this book is that, given the subject matter, it is a bit too light. 

AND. THAT. ENDING.

Ugh, man, I really really got ALL THE FEELINGS. It was such a good ending that leads into so many possibilities for the second book. My mind sometimes casually wanders off coming up with different things that could happen in the second book, Scare Crow. It's easily one of my most anticipated sequels of the year.

"Every other second, minute, hour that I spent with Cameron after that moment made the last piece of my puzzle grow stronger, so that it made the damaged, the broken pieces become insignificant - mere background noise. But Cameron had taken the last piece of the puzzle with him, and a black hole was all that was left in its stead."

Although, unfortunately, there isn't a release date for Scare Crow yet, Julie has released a teaser on her Facebook page, and the book should be out sometime this year!

Crow's Row - 4/5 stars.

Thanks for reading guys. Be sure to recommend me some good reads for next time! I'll speak to you all soon!

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Trying Something New

Hellooooo!
So I've decided to give this book reviewing thing a try. As much as I love goodreads and tumblr, the former I basically just use for finding books and giving them stars out of five, and the latter I feel isn't really the best place for book reviews, which is why I'm giving actual non-fangirling, coherent and possibly insightful blogging a try!

I'm yet to decided what my first book review shall be, but I'm thinking it might be Crow's Row by Julie Hockley... we shall see.

SO, I hope you'll come back when my first review is actually up, until then be sure to recommend or suggest any books I could read or review.

See ya!


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