Book Review: Still Point by Katie Kacvinsky

In the final installment to the trilogy begun with "Awaken, " Maddie returns home to make her final stand against Digital School, and uncovers deeply guarded secrets about her family an new truths about herself.








Well, this has been a long time coming. 

I first read Awaken in 2011, and like a lot of readers, I was intrigued at the idea of a dystopian society that wasn't so far from our own realities in the present day. Fast forward three years, and Katie Kacvinsky is still making my mind whirl with her very realistic ideas of what could be. 

In this final installment, Maddie & co are all gearing up for the national vote that could change everything. The vote to give students the choice to study face-to-face. Still Point once again included everything I love about this series, the beautiful metaphors, the fast-paced action sequences, and the intriguing characters. It may be because I haven't dived into the world of Awaken in a while, or it could be that Katie really stepped up her game for this one, but the writing was so beautiful it really took my breath away. The stunning imagery and descriptions are something I haven't found in a lot of YA books lately, and it was a breath of fresh air to read such wonderful prose. 

It's no secret that I had a really hard time with end of trilogy books. I can count on one hand the few that have left me satisfied, but Still Point really delivers. It gives closure, but not so everything is wrapped in a perfect bow (which I know is the bane of all readers). It made me feel, made me think long after reading it - which is the one sure way of knowing if a book satisfied me. 

The ending was perfect in a bittersweet-happy-sad-omg kind of way. Is that possible? Apparently so. I keep going over it in my mind, for reasons you'll discover when you read the book! 
It really was wonderful. Realistic, heartfelt and a little melancholy - but all in the perfect way. I cannot remember the last time I read a YA dystopia with such emotion. Katie really managed to pull the rug from under my feet, and delivered an original ending that didn't leave me wanting to pull my hair out.  Hooray! It's for all these reasons and more that the Awaken trilogy always tops my list of Underrated Books. 

A truly brilliant end to a trilogy that deals with an extremely realistic idea of what our future could look like. Congratulations, Katie!

Pre-order Still Point
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Katie Kacvinsky
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Review: Come Back To Me by Mila Gray

Home on leave in sunny California, Marine and local lothario Kit Ryan finds himself dangerously drawn to his best friend's sister, Jessa - the one girl he can't have.

But Kit's not about to let a few obstacles stand in his way and soon Jessa's falling for his irresistible charms.


What starts out as a summer romance of secret hook-ups and magical first times quickly develops into a passionate love affair that turns both their worlds upside down.

When summer's over and it's time for Kit to redeploy, neither Kit nor Jessa are ready to say goodbye. Jessa's finally following her dreams and Kit's discovered there's someone he'd sacrifice everything for.
Jessa's prepared to wait for Kit no matter what. But when something more than distance and time rips them apart they're forced to decide whether what they have is really worth fighting for.

****

Praise the Lord! For Sarah Alderson - ahem - Mila Gray, is back! And this one ain't for the kids. 

Anyone who has known me long enough realises that no matter how cliche it may be, I just can't resist a good forbidden love story. I can't explain it, they just call to me. And when I heard that this particular story was being penned by none other Sarah Alderson under a pseudonym, I couldn't wait to get my greedy little hands on it. 

Come Back To Me certainly won't be what everyone expects from the author of Hunting Lila and Fated; it's an adult book with... adult things in it, but as always, nothing Sarah Alderson does is without heart and this book is full of it. It's steamy, and heart-fluttering, and everything a good new adult novel should be. 

Kit and Jessa's relationship jumped off of the very first page. As I said before, I'm a sucker for forbidden love, and this one reeled me in without any hope of my getting away. I adored the characters and the journey they each took throughout this book. 

It was such a quick read for me; I read the book in under three hours, which I think is mostly down to the wonderful pacing. This book is about a forbidden love, but there's none of the time consuming angst that can sometimes (though not always) drag a book down if it gets too heavy. Everything in this book, from the characters own personal developments, to the progression of the relationship between Kit and Jessa, was done in a quick, wonderful, and sometimes heartbreaking fashion. 

“Does he make you see stars?’ he asks in a low voice. ‘Does he call you his north star? Because that’s what you are to me. You’re the reason I made it home.”

Gettin' down to the steamy stuff, yes, there's a lot. And yes, it's hot. There's a perfect balance of the romantic and, for lack of a better word, physical aspects to Jessa and Kit's relationship. Ms. Alderson truly does have an amazing talent at writing relationships (and book boyfriends) that I just die for. 

Okay, all I can really do is gush over this book because it really was a great, great read. It's a heartfelt story I think everyone can be drawn into. Congrats, Mila!

Come Back To Me will be published June 19th 

Pre-order it from 

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Mila Gray

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Sarah Alderson 

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 *A big thank you to the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it’s stopped mattering whether it’s true.
The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault.
 Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it.
Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

****

I read TTAA in less than five hours. It's a very quick, very engaging read that I could not put down. 

I was firstly blown away at how fluid and dynamic this book was. It's told from the POV's of multiple characters, both boys and girls. Each characters' personality came through and differed from the last. From the first sentences, you could see that each character had a different though process, a different way of speaking from the last. I especially loved how the author portrayed the boys. From experience, when female authors write from a male's perspective, it doesn't always work out. However, Mathieu did an excellent job at making the teenage boys actually sound like teenage boys. 

What I found interesting about this book that it isn't simply a story about some mean girls in high school. There are definitely elements of that, but the story goes so much deeper. As we found out more about each character, it became clear that not everything was so black and white. This doesn't mean to say that these people don't make bad choices, but in the end, they're teenagers and simply human. Even Alice herself, who is the victim of the story, isn't a complete angel. What I liked about that is that it made the book and its situation entirely more real, and gave it a huge amount of depth due to its honesty. 

"If you give people enough time, eventually they'll do the most heartbreaking stuff in the world."

This book kept me guessing and thinking the entire way through. I liked figuring out each character and coming to realise why they behaved in particular ways. 

A thoroughly enjoyable, fast paced read with complicated and flawed characters. It was a real breath of fresh air to read such honest and realistic characters. 

The Truth About Alice comes out June 3rd. 

Pre-order it on
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Jennifer Mathieu 
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*I'd like to give a huge thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this book*

Book Review: Half Bad by Sally Green

"Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Easy."

****

Half Bad is the first book in the Half Life trilogy, and it's quite unlike any debut novel I've read before. 

I was in Waterstones with a friend of mine, looking for a new book to read but not quite sure what exactly I wanted to get. I was prepared to leave the shop with nothing until I saw a table of beautiful, silver and red hardback books. I immediately rushed over, and grabbed the copy of Half Bad, with the decision to buy it already half made just from its gorgeous cover. It also happened to be signed, which may have swayed my choice even more, and I am so glad I picked up this book. 

As much as I love the YA genre, it can feel like you sometimes read the same book over and over again. I'm not the first to admit this, and I certainly won't be the last, however, books like Half Bad make me stop and think : "Yes! You, dear book, are what I have been waiting for!"

The story is set in England, and among us regular folk (fains) there are two types of witches. There's the 'good' White Witches, and 'evil' the Black Witches. Black Witches are hunted down and killed by Whites, leaving only a few left in the country. Our protagonist, Nathan, is something entirely unheard of before: he is half White, half Black. 

For a first book, Sally Green has created a fantastic piece of work. The world-building is neither skimmed or too confusingly detailed, everything is introduced with clarity. This could be due to the fact that the world belonging to our characters coincides with our own, but even these types of stories can feel like information is being shoved down your throat (I'm looking at you, City of Bones. I love ya, but... wow). 

This book really doesn't hold back. It's painful and happy, funny and sad and everything in between. There's so many elements to it that have been fitted perfectly together. It's suspenseful and gritty and honest in a way that I haven't seen in YA books of late. 

Nathan is a very interesting character. Repressed and degraded his entire life, and with one of the most evil Black Witches in the country as a father, it isn't surprising to see where his moments of anger come from. Aside from this, I think it's interesting how Nathan can make people care about him, even when he's being sullen. Aside from Jessica, his whole family would have done anything for him, Celia and Gabriel are also people that have overlooked his darker moods and have grown to be compassionate and caring toward him. 
There is also something endearing the way Nathan feels toward Marcus. Even through everything Nathan has heard about his father, even though he doesn't really know anything about him, he is so sure his dad cares for him and will take him away from the awful life he's had. I can't help but hope that Nathan's will get what he wants. He's naive and idealistic at times but you can't blame him because of all he's had to go through, just because of who he was born to. It's so easy to root for Nathan because of all he's withstood. 

Of course, I have to mention Marcus. I found the snippets of his back story so intriguing, and I think his only being seen until the end of the book only makes him more of an enigma. I was always questioning: is Marcus going to be the father Nathan hopes he is? Or is he just as everyone says; selfish and uncaring? And even after he meets Nathan, I can't say I know the answer just yet. 

Gabriel was also a favourite of mine. And the ending just about killed me. Of all the characters in this book, Gabriel is one of the few people I think Nathan can trust. Green keeps us constantly questioning everyone's motives, and even still we aren't sure who's who and what's what. The paranoia stems from what Nathan must feel on a day to day basis. 

I honestly could not put this book down. It was wonderfully written and just an amazing first book in a series I cannot wait for. It's an amazing take on a genre that isn't heard too much from since the Harry Potter days, but don't let that make you draw comparisons, it really isn't anything like the boy wizard and his days at Hogwarts. I couldn't really compare this to anything, and in times like this when everything is compared to The Hunger Games or Twilight, that is surely a compliment. It's gripping, fast paced and at times haunting. I cannot praise this book enough, and I'm eagerly awaiting next spring for Half Wild. 

Congratulations on an amazing first book, Sally Green!

Victoria's Not So Extensive List of Underrated Books

Bonsoir et au revoir to FoldedBetweenPages! It was real, it was cool; it's time to move on. Hope you all like the name change!

Over on tumblr, I get a fair few questions about book recommendations, and I can't help but sort of push certain underrated books onto people. Whether these people actually listen to me or not, I still mention the same books over and over again.

I'm a pusher. A sad old book pusher.

Without further delay, here is my list of 'books I think are great but no one really talks about them let's change that shall we?'!

Une: Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky. 

This book tops my list of underrated books. And I don't know why?!? Awaken is a YA dystopia set in the not too distant future, and it is so realistic of what our world is actually turning into, that it's scary.

In this book, society has been driven inside. No one leaves their homes except when necessary. You can go to school on your computer. Meet new friends on your computer. Draw pictures on your computer. Exercise on, what? You guessed it: your computer. It has become abnormal to participate in activities outside of your home. It is against the rules to fight this system, and more and more, the old natural ways of living are slowly fading away.

The story centers around Maddie, a young girl whose father invented 'Digital School'. Maddie longs for more human contact, and rebels against the current way of living. She goes to football (or soccer, to you Yanks) practices, and even - gasp! - face to face study groups. It's at one of these groups that Maddie meets the enigmatic Justin, keen to uproot the system and lead people into a more natural way of living.

This story is wonderfully written, as is it's sequel, Middle Ground. Katie Kacvinsky has a wonderful way of describing things and creating images in the readers mind. The way Maddie learns things that seem so trivial to us is so interesting. The characters are complex and intriguing, each one, no matter how minor or major.

What I find most enthralling about this book is how so close to this version of the future we are. Technology has really taken over the planet, in more ways than one. Here I am, right now, using technology to type out my thoughts on a book that demonstrates how dangerous it could be if we shut ourselves in with our home comforts and stop living.
This is one of the most realistic dystopians I've read. It's a complete page-turner, and I am eagerly awaiting the final book in the trilogy: Still Point.

Deux: Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson.

Shout out to the UK authors out there! I am a huge fan of Sarah Alderson.

I first picked up Hunting Lila a while ago, when I was sick in bed. This book picked me right up.
If you want a book that ticks a lot of boxes, pick. This. Up.
Mystery? Check. Action? Check. Supernatural? Check. Romance? Check. Kick ass heroine? Check. A plot that's somehow both heavy and light at the same time? Check, check, check.

Hunting Lila is about a young girl that discovers she has the power to move objects with her mind. When an incident in London drives her back home to the States, and her brother and his best friend, things begin to unravel and truths are revealed. Lila discovers things she never knew: who her brother really works for. Who is the man that killed her mother, and that she's not alone.

Once again, I have to praise the writing and the characters in this book and its sequel, Losing Lila. I'm a girl who loves a character driven story, and the characters in these books are so diverse and different from one another; it fed my reading taste buds. A couple of characters in particular are laugh out loud funny, which I think is pretty hard to convey through books well.

Note: You guys should also check out Sarah's Fated series. That's it. Just do it.


Trois: Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout  

Most of you may know of Jennifer L. Armentrout from her Lux series, however, the first books I read by her were the Covenant books.

Half-Blood had been on my TBR list for a long time, mostly due to it's gorgeous cover. When came the time that I decided to get it done and read, I did a quick skim of the comments section of its Goodreads page. It seems that a lot of, for lack of a better word, controversy, has arisen over the similar plot structure of Half-Blood, to that of Vampire Academy. And I'm not going to deny that structurally, the books share similarities, however, the series' are actually very different to each other.

Half-Blood is the story of a girl named Alex, who is learning to become a Sentinel, training to hunt and kill daimons. If Half-Bloods, such as Alex, don't become Sentinels, then their only option is to serve the superior Pure-Bloods for the rest of their lives.
Alex's mother has just been killed by daimons, and so she returns to the Covenant, a school for would-be Sentinels and Pure-Bloods, after disappearing for three years. Alex will stop at nothing to make sure she isn't placed into servitude, and becomes the Sentinel she's always dreamed of.

I've got a soft spot for reckless, impulsive characters, and Alex ticks both of those boxes and more. She completely owns herself, unapologetically. Also a bonus if, like moi, you have a thing for forbidden love, one character will ruin you: Aiden St. Delphi. Damn. 
These books will also get you going if you love Greek mythology, which the very basis of the plot stems from. As the series goes on, the mythology infused in them gets stronger, and I loved learning about all these different things I'd never known. 

There are five books in the Covenant series, including two novellas. 


I hope you all enjoyed these books I picked out! It's likely I'll do another 'Underrated Books' post, as I read so many deserving books that need more recognition!
Have a great weekend, and I'll see you soon!


Find all these books on Amazon & The Book Depository 

Katie Kacvinsky on her official website & Twitter
Sarah Alderson on her official website & Twitter
Jennifer L. Armentrout on her official website  & Twitter

Book review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. 

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.

****

I heard about Ready Player One a few years ago, when I was video-surfing various booktubers' book hauls and reviews. When I found out that RPO is full of 80's pop-culture, it immediately went on my mental 'to read' list. And even though it's taken me a while to get to it, this book has always been lingering in the back of my mind. 

I recently found myself in a bit of a slump pre-Ignite Me, and wanted a nice stand alone to pull me out of the mourning period. I expected to pick a typical, fluffy beach read, however I remembered once again that I had yet to read RPO, and this time around, I really wanted to read it. 

It's very interesting to see the way different authors present the future in their books. From The Hunger Games to Divergent to Awaken, every one is always different and intriguing, and RPO was no different. What I loved most about Cline's version of our future, is that even though the world is a pretty awful place for just about everyone, there is still one escape that everyone can go to. The idea of the OASIS could have had a 'been-there-done-that' feel to it; but it wasn't that way at all. I think that this is partly due to the fact that right from the start we are introduced to the 80's pop-culture, which has also worked it's way into the OASIS. It gave the old idea of a 'virtual reality' new life and depth. And as an 80's geek, I adored it. 

While the idea of a 80's infused video game story line may sound happy and light, let me assure you that there were moments of darkness I wasn't expecting at all. The whole plot line with the Sixers (Sux0z, lol) grew into something actually quite scary. When it came to Wade's 'big plan' I was actually fearing for his life. 

Moving on to Wade. Ah, Wade. Wade, Wade, Wade. I love this guy so much. I loved his many moments of vulnerability. Wade, I feel, is a good representation of many people on the internet. We all hide behind our screens and feel brave enough to say and do anything, but it's safe to say we all have our own hang ups and insecurities. Wade handles his so well, and I feel he is a stronger character for not letting things like his weight or, hum, virginity, stand in his way of being kick-ass, funny and incredibly brave. Of course, Wade later proves his bravery outside of the OASIS in the real world, which I honestly didn't see coming. I felt for sure that Wade and his comrades would continue to battle it out inside the OASIS, and maybe meet with each other in the real world someday. Having them all come together and meeting each other for the first time, and just like Wade, each one of his friends had something they were self conscious of, or didn't want people to see. 

One of my other favourite characters was actually James Halliday. One quote stuck out to me when I read it, and I think it is one of my favourites from the book: 

"Looking around, I wondered why Halliday, who always claimed to have had a miserable childhood, had later become so nostalgic for it."

Halliday is such an enigma to everyone playing his game. He created a world-wide hunt inside a game of his own creation, in the process making sure everyone looking for his egg researched and then came to love all the things he loved. I loved hearing the little snippets of James' childhood that Wade had learnt from his studies. I could honestly have read more and more about him. When Wade went to Halliday's childhood home, it really touched me. 

While I was reading, I of course had to look up every 80's reference I didn't understand. I particularly enjoyed looking up what a TRS-80 looked like (WOW).  While I do love the eighties, I never actually looked too deeply into all the video games of that era, and now it's safe to say I have been playing Galaga on my iPad so much my frustration levels are through the roof. I also learnt things about video games I'd already heard of, such as the split screen level in PacMan. I actually read about that about halfway through the book, so when Wade came to play it and won, I was immensely proud.
Of course, I loved the 80's music and movie references. I particularly liked Art3mis' blog post on "Dorky Girl/Boy Fantasies" trilogies. Which, was spot on. I loved that Wade had to recite both WarGames and Monty Python's Holy Grail word for word. And one of my new favourite songs is now Rebel Yell by Billy Idol. Thank you, Mr. Cline. 

With each clue Wade got, I was trying desperately to come up with my own answers as I was reading. There were a couple of things that I got right, but some were so obscure that only a true gunter could have gotten them right. Sigh. 

This was such a fun book to read. It's the perfect mix of light and heaviness. Full of wonderful description and all the great eighties references. If you enjoy looking up different things mentioned in books, you'll definitely love this one. I think it's such a funny thing that Wade and all his friends were obsessed with this era, purely because James Halliday himself had loved it.

If you're looking for a great dystopia with a difference, this one's for you. Or, if you just love the eighties as I do, then definitely give this book a try. I also hear it's been optioned for a film adaptation, which I'd be so excited to see.

This book is easily one of the best I've read this year, and I'm so sad it took me so long to get to it. Definitely a 4.5/5 from me!

See you next time. 

Buy Ready Player One

Amazon

Book Depository

Book review: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

**

W-O-W.

What an ending to a fantastic trilogy. I'll admit, I entered reading Ignite Me with slight hesitation. Many of you may know I had concerns over who would survive, and I honestly couldn't say I knew where the story would go at all. 

It turns out I had nothing to worry about. 

This book was beautiful, action packed, funny, sexy and at times unnerving. 

The transition from the Juliette we've come to know, into the Juliette we see in Ignite Me, is so drastic. I loved how Juliette was no longer afraid of herself, and no longer afraid of exposing who she really is to others. It shows how much she's grown, and I am so, so proud of her.
Like always, the writing is beautiful and poetic; however this time around, the fast-paced almost manic quality to the prose is gone. It's a reflection on how much Juliette has changed. There are no strike throughs, because for the first time Juliette isn't afraid of the consequences of her words. 

This book is different from other YA dystopians in that it's sole focus isn't on the action or battles and wars. While there is a part of that, of course, I'd say what really drives this story is it's characters. These people who have led such different and somber lives, have come together to change the way their lives are heading. I think it's beautiful that in a setting like this, the rays of light come from the friendships and trials of these wonderful people. 

Mafi ended the story in a lovely way, I think. It almost has a Requiem feel to it - except this time around I'm not left feeling frustrated or short-changed, I feel optimistic. These characters are all very young, and while this is the end of their stories for us, their lives are just beginning. Mafi has given us so much to consider, and there are many questions to ask about 'Where They go From There'. Instead of driving me crazy with wondering, I think it's nice that we can imagine our own scenarios for these people. Nothing is defined, much like in life. And in YA's in can be a fine line to tread, some fans detest and will always detest an ending that doesn't give them clear cut answers and clarity, and some will be fine with the almost-cliffhangers. I always thought I'd fall into the former category, however Tahereh Mafi has done this in such a hopeful and beautiful way, that there is no way I can fault her for it. 

My love for this series has really grown and grown since reading Shatter Me, I'm going to give it 5/5 stars and a huge congratulations to Tahereh for writing a wonderful series!

See you next time!

Buy Ignite Me
Amazon

Amazon (UK)

Book Depository