Review- Lie With Me By Sabine Durrant

    

 Title: Lie With Me 

 Author: Sabine Durrant

 Series/Standalone: Standalone 

Format: ARC

*To be released 28th July 2016*

Rating: ★★★

 Goodreads summary:

"I suppose what I am saying is, how much do we collude in our own destruction? How much of this nightmare is on me?

You can hate and rail. You can kick out in protest.

You can do foolish and desperate things, but maybe sometimes you just have to hold up a hand and take the blame."

Breathless.
Claustrophobic.
Unsettling.
Impossible to put down.

Review:

After reading the synopsis of this book I had no idea what I was letting myself in for but I was intrigued. 

The first hundred pages or so of the novel were slow and there was some building up of the story, However it made me think that maybe this wasn't the book for me and I was close to putting it down a few times. I trooped on  though and I would say I am glad I did. 

This wasn't my favorite thriller/mystery book by a long shot but it was interesting. The pacing of the novel was quite odd at times as it was extremely slowand there was a lot of unnecessary scenes that could have been replaced with more character development. The pace didn't pick up to the point where I was actually looking forward to reading until the last few chapters which was disappointing and made it difficult to keep with the story. However those last few chapters were really great and I loved the twists which definitely made the book.   

Although the pacing was an issue, my biggest problem with this book was the characters. None of them were developed to the point where we actually felt anything for them. The main character, Paul, was awful and I couldn't stand him. This became a problem because I just didn't care what happened to him in the slightest. I never got attached to any of the other characters we are met with throughout so it was all on the plot for this to be a good book in my view. 

This was a good novel for those who love their mysteries but it lacked the characters which I enjoy in a book.  

Review- It's kind of a funny story by Ned Vizzini

Title: It's kind of a funny story
Author: Ned Vizzini
Series/standalone: Standalone 
Format: paperback 

Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads summary:
Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life - which means getting into the right high school to get into the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself.

Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

Review:
Before I read this book I had previously watched the movie adaptation and loved it but never had the urge to read the book until I saw it in my local library and decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did because this book managed to blow the movie out of the water. 

From the book you get a much better insight into the mind of a person with mental health issues. You can really tell that the author had experienced the illnesses he was interpreting in the book as they are unbelievably accurate. The book is written with humorous aspects which really help to lighten the mood of the book and I think this is extremely important when talking about such a taboo subject. 

I recommend that everyone give this book a shot as it helps to get rid of the stigma that surrounds mental illnesses in modern society and brings a better understanding for people who maybe don't understand the feelings when  you have depression or anxiety. 

Review- The bone season By Samantha Shannon

Title: The bone season 

Author: Samantha Shannon 

Series/Standalone: #1 in a series

Format: Hardcover 

Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads summary:

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people's minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.
It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.

Review: 

I put off reading this book for so long due to hearing that it was extremely hard to get into and understand and I just never felt in the mood to read a book that I would be confused the whole way through. This however was not the case for me at all when I did finally decide to read it.

The world is very complex in this book but after you get past the explanations and world building you really start to get into the story.I found myself hooked for the beginning and managed to read over 300 pages of the book in one day. I was dying to know what was going to happen and how things would turn out.

There were so many twists and turns throughout that kept you on your toes and never left me feeling bored or uninterested which is what I love in book.

Now onto the characters. Paige was an amazingly badass main character and, although she got beat up in almost every chapter due to her stubbornness, I absolutely loved her.

I loved getting her memories and her back story slowly throughout the novel and then at the end when it all ties together so beautifully. I also don't have the words to describe how much I loved Warden even though we didn't see much of him, I loved the development of his relationship with Paige. 

I liked the underlying romance in the book and the fact that it didn't take over the book. I cannot wait to see more from Paige in the next books and will be picking up the sequel very soon.

                             

                                                                                                                                                           

Review- The beginning of never by O.E Boroni

Title: The beginning of never

Author: O.E Boroni 

Series/Standalone: #1 in a series 

Source: Author 

Format: E-ARC 

Publication date: 28th April 2015 

Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads summary:

When Lenora Baker and Nathan Roqué run into each other in their boarding school courtyard, they have no idea that they are about to begin a journey that will take them the rest of their lives to recover from. Both scarred from parents who were once in love but ended up destroying each other, they are sworn off the possibility that there can truly exist a love that will never end.

But when with each other they find a passion so strong that it heals as powerfully as it burns, a love that will run out is no longer an option for them. Together, they discover just how far they are willing to go to preserve what they know they will only find once in their lifetime.

                                                    

 Review:

Firstly I want to say thank you to the lovely O.E. Boroni for sending me an E-ARC of this book.

 
I definitely wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did as I'm not normally the biggest fan of pure YA romance novels, which is what I though it was. 

It turned out to be such an honest story of first love and how it affects you but it also had a back story to it which I love.

 I will say the characters annoyed me at times and I wanted to jump into the book and push them together but again I find I feel that way with a lot of romances. I cannot wait for the sequel to this book because that ending left me wanting more of Lenora and Nathan and most of all to see how things turned out!

I highly recommend you pick this book up when it is released on the 28th of April as it is such a light, easy but still emotional read.

Review- The shock of the fall by Nathan Filer

Title: The shock of the fall

Author: Nathan Filer 

Series/Standalone:  Standalone 
Format: Hardcover

Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads summary:

‘I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’

Review:

I honestly was not expecting a lot going into this book. I had heard some amazing things but was not sold on the hype. Let me say I am so glad I saw this in the library and decided to pick it up. 

This is the story about a boy who looses his older brother in a tragic accident and never recovers. 

This book deals with mental illness in a very honest and heart breaking way. It shows what it is like to deal with an illness of the mind and the effects it can have on the people you love and more importantly the person it affects . I would like to point out that there is self-harm in this book so if that is a trigger for you I would recommend maybe being cautious whilst reading.

Matthew is an extremely unreliable narrator so at points in the book it can be hard to tell what has actually happened and at what point in time. It does jump from Matthews past to the present and it can be difficult at times to know what is the present. This was the only problem I had with this book and even that was resolved at the end when we got the fully story. If you have been thinking about reading this I would say do it. It  is definitely worth the read!