Trouble – Non Pratt

Title: Trouble

Author: Non Pratt

Publisher: Walker Books

Publish Date: March 2014

Genre: YA, Contemporary

Rating: 4 stars

“In this dazzling debut novel, a pregnant teen learns the meaning of friendship—from the boy who pretends to be her baby’s father.

When the entire high school finds out that Hannah Shepard is pregnant via her ex-best friend, she has a full-on meltdown in her backyard. The one witness (besides the rest of the world): Aaron Tyler, a transfer student and the only boy who doesn’t seem to want to get into Hannah’s pants. Confused and scared, Hannah needs someone to be on her side. Wishing to make up for his own past mistakes, Aaron does the unthinkable and offers to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s unborn baby. Even more unbelievable, Hannah hears herself saying “yes.”

Told in alternating perspectives between Hannah and Aaron, Trouble is the story of two teenagers helping each other to move forward in the wake of tragedy and devastating choices. As you read about their year of loss, regret, and hope, you’ll remember your first, real best friend—and how they were like a first love.”

Me and my lovely friend Erica @ Tangled in the Willows did a book swap a few weeks ago and I’ve only just got round to blogging about it *slaps wrist*. I gave her my treasured copy of ‘All The Bright Places’ by Jennifer Niven which she LOVED and I got her copy of Non Pratt’s ‘Trouble’ that blew me away. ‘Trouble’ is definitely the sort of book I’d recommend reading – it’s funny, light but still blows exposure onto some serious and important issues that surround a lot of YA readers.

Apart from that eye-catching cover, the best thing about this book is the plot twist (or big reveal? Not sure how to describe it). About half-way through I did see it coming but it’s the sort twist that you sit there debating whether the author will be daring enough to go through with it. And Pratt is very daring. She pushed that plot twist all the way and then some, dribbling out the last of the character’s secrets right until the end. This is definitely a shocker of a book, it’s ready to make your breath catch in your throat.

“It’s too much to be forgiven when all you want is to be blamed.”

Another very lovable feature of Pratt’s debut was how open and honest it was. She didn’t dress up the subject of teen pregnancy in any way but didn’t dress it down either. Not that I’ve had any experience of it, but you can see the authenticity of the story – it wasn’t airbrushed so you could see how some parts of it end up being very negative. And, through Pratt’s masterful writing skills, you can also see the beauty of the experience. As a reader who’s not a fan of pregnancy or children in anyway, even I could see some the softer and emotive events that occur and how tender the relationship between daughter and mother can be.

I was also a huge fan of some the lighter, even funnier moments. Pratt showed how everything does have its best moments and that not everything is doom and gloom. One of our favourite moments was at the start of the novel when Hannah (accidentally) hits Aaron with her car door – it may be more of a ‘you have to read it’ sort of thing but it is definitely a highlight. The author managed to be humorous without being sounding forced, making it an absolute delight to indulge in.

“There are some things it are best not to repeat. I think I heard most of them in that antenatal class.”

The characters were one of the books best traits. Aaron was detailed in such a way that you really couldn’t help but love the guy – he was just too lovely and protective. His unnecessary guilt also caused me so much frustration – I’d love to go into the politics of it but I don’t want to ruin anything. It was Neville who took pride of place in my heart. He, along with the other elderly characters in the novel, were presented in a way that is so different to a lot of other YA novels – they weren’t these ‘evil’ people who don’t understand the youth but act more as friends to the younger characters. But Neville was just so funny and open that he really was, in my opinion, one of the best characters in the book.

All of the characters just appeared so real too. Their personalities felt so natural and easy to read that you could really imagine them as your friends, your family or even just your neighbors. However. I did have one problem with them. They definitely did not sound their age. There is no way in hell that Hannah etc were only 15, 16 maybe but definitely not 15. It was this that lost a bit of that lovely realism for me and knocked off a bit of that love. Maybe Pratt needed to reduce how powerful and ‘educated’ the characters were – if anything, she’s written them too well.

Get yourself a copy of this book – not only will it look good on your shelf but it’ll make you laugh, smile and cry. It is written in such a way that makes the story real enough to allow full a full escape from the real world, you can’t say no to that can you?

The Problem With Forever – Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: The Problem With Forever

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Publish Date: June 16th 2016

Genre: YA

Rating: 4.5 stars

“For some people, silence is a weapon. For Mallory “Mouse” Dodge, it’s a shield. Growing up, she learned that the best way to survive was to say nothing. And even though it’s been four years since her nightmare ended, she’s beginning to worry that the fear that holds her back will last a lifetime.

Now, after years of homeschooling with loving adoptive parents, Mallory must face a new milestone—spending her senior year at public high school. But of all the terrifying and exhilarating scenarios she’s imagined, there’s one she never dreamed of—that she’d run into Rider Stark, the friend and protector she hasn’t seen since childhood, on her very first day.

It doesn’t take long for Mallory to realize that the connection she shared with Rider never really faded. Yet the deeper their bond grows, the more it becomes apparent that she’s not the only one grappling with the lingering scars from the past. And as she watches Rider’s life spiral out of control, Mallory faces a choice between staying silent and speaking out—for the people she loves, the life she wants, and the truths that need to be heard.”

(I received a digital copy of this book in return for an honest review)

My journey through this book was very rocky. I opened the first pages and as I read those perfect words on the page, I realized that this book was going to be so important and I was already in love. I even had to post on Goodreads about how much I loved this one. But then that love began to waver about halfway through and I wasn’t as addicted to devouring its pages as I was when I started (I also went to a festival for the weekend so I didn’t really get chance to read much then anyway). After that halfway point though, I couldn’t put the damn thing down. It was about 3 am before I went bed and the complete lack of sleep I had the next day was 100% worth it.

“Forever was something we all took for granted, but the problem with forever was that it really didn’t exist.”

I think the obvious thing to start off is how deftly Armentrout dealt with the very heavy subject matter. She made it as easy to digest as something like this could be. It wasn’t blown out of proportion in anyway or exaggerated for the sake of it but written plainly and honestly. I think that by saying it how it was made the storyline so much more powerful – you didn’t think about Mallory and Rider’s childhood abuse as some sort of ‘gossip’ but as a tender and upsetting event in their lives, making it all that more compelling.

There was also a lot of character growth that made the ‘The Problem With Forever’ even more special. I always love seeing how people develop into something that is so much more better than who they began as. It was also lovely seeing how the characters helped each other to become the better, enlightened version of themselves. Mallory was the one who made Rider see who he was meant to be how much he was holding himself back, squeezing out all of his negativity and bad memories, turning him into the sort of Rider that could be even more powerful. But in some ways it did annoy me how reliant the characters were on each other. Obviously to develop you need someone to help and guide you but Mallory seemed unable to develop until she met Rider and vice versa – surely you could be able to develop without completely relying on one person?

“Because it wasn’t that important. Something else was. Living life was.”

And I can’t go without mentioning my favourite character Ainsley. I couldn’t even dream of having a better character than Ainsley – she was so patient and kind and, in my opinion, even more relatable than Mallory. To be honest, I would just love there to be a sequel that focuses more on Ainsley just see what happens with her and her own storyline that was starting to take shape here. The rest of the characters were just as interesting though. They all seem larger than words on paper and so realistic – Armentrout’s descriptions making them seem and feel so real and vivid.

Another thing that caught my attention was that lovely focus on art! Rider’s painting skills and Mallory’s carvings were made to sound just as impressive as one another as in a few YA I’ve read that featured art like this they were compared like they in competition of something ridiculous. But Armentrout steered clear of this which was a huge positive. Also, she made the descriptions of the art really detailed so that you could sharply picture them in your mind – whether it was the textures on Mallory’s carvings or the perception within Rider’s painting, you could easily picture their creations. While talking about art, we would be stupid not to mention how magnificent that cover is.

“And it was knowing that I could still be… still be afraid of everything, but not letting that fear stop me from living”

There was just a very small reason why it lost half that star though. Along with the fact that the characters were so reliant on one another, at one point of the book it just completely focused on the romance between Mallory and Rider. I get that it was part of the storyline but after such a powerful start, it just made the intensity that Armentrout had been emulating fall flat slightly. Like there was this very serious and heavy subject matter and all of a sudden we are all fluffy with cute acts of love and kissing. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the romance itself but it just made me feel slightly bored after such an interesting start (this only lasted for a few chapters, then things got AMAZING again).

It’s such a wonderful, heart-grasping book that I highly recommend that you get this one onto your shelves ASAP.

You Know Me Well – David Levithan & Nina LaCour

Title: You Know Me Well

Authors: David Levithan and Nina LaCour

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Publish Date: June 7th 2016

Genre: YA

Rating: 4 Stars

“Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really?

Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.

That is until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.

When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other — and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.”

(I received a digital copy of this book in return for an honest review)

There was something about this book that made me lose control. I picked it up, flicked to the first page and commenced a reading frenzy. And, especially considering that this wasn’t even a long book, I ended up finishing this in an afternoon. If I had to sum up the overall feel this book had, I’d happily describe it as one of those warming summer reads that every teen ends up reading over the holiday. Also, it immediately gets huge thumbs up because it’s LGBT that is actually written well! Yay!

“We are all on the way to the same party even if it’s taking place in hundreds of different bars and living rooms. We are going out to celebrate ourselves and one another. To fall in love or to remind ourselves of people we’ve loved in the past.”

I am a huge fan of having different POV’s throughout a book because really, what’s better than having one point of view apart hearing from multiple characters? Nothing. And when it is different authors doing the different POV’s? Even better. I’m pretty sure that’s the reason I liked Levithan and Green’s ‘Will Grayson, Will Grayson’ so much too – you can always count on having the different voices sounding completely different. In ‘You Know Me Well’, you can definitely feel the difference’s between voices, albeit a few similarities, which really made the whole reading experience so enjoyable.

“Taylor is a boy, and you are my best friend. Taylor is a date, and you are my calender.”

Another massive pull to this book was how lyrical the writing is. I think I could have literally highlighted the whole book with quotes that I wanted to share it was that poetic. Every line was somehow perfectly structured to give it a shimmering coat of beauty – it was melodic, rhythmic and tuneful. And, to be honest, there is not other way to make me love a book than to make each word roll off the tongue like music.

I also related to the ending a lot. Kate found herself really worrying about the future and couldn’t find herself feeling ready for all these massive things about to take place. As a teen/young adult, it is so likely that the readers of this book, including me, are facing some massive changes in the future so seeing a character (that will evidently be so successful and strong as Kate) dealing with these issues in a way that makes her happy is going to be so important. It’s like LaCour and Levithan are showing that you can take which ever path you want, whenever you want, a message perhaps not echoed enough within our very demanding education systems.

“Whatever this is that’s happening between us, it’s another part of the tower I have to burn down.”

The way the book began was key in making the novel so easy to get into. It felt like as soon as you were on the first page of ‘You Know Me Well’, you knew the book and its characters well. In a lot of books, I often find myself waiting for the action to start or for the characters to start being complex enough to be interesting but in this one, I think the authors really cracked it. Here you were straight into the whirlwind plot, chewing down on each development of the plot and hanging off every line of every chapter.

“The heart is a treacherous beast”

Levithan and LaCour were also brilliant in the way in which they made their relationships complex without being confusing. There’s often a thin line between realistically complex and confusingly complex and here the authors found themselves on the right side of that line. Each relationship was complicated enough to mirror the oddities of real life relationships which again helped the plot and the characters become so much more vivid.

However, I did have one bug bare with this book that caused a lot of minor issues, knocking off that fifth star I was so tempted to add. The book should have been longer. If it was longer, we wouldn’t be left with the WTF moment of Mark and Kate becoming such close friends so quickly. And there wouldn’t be that small niggling feeling that the authors were just rushing through to finish the novel due to the speed at which the plot was carried off.

“I say maybe because when you’re a teenager there’s this rule: You aren’t supposed to make a decision based on love. You are supposed to tell your heart that it is a fickle thing. You’re supposed to remind yourself of Romeo and Juliet and how badly it turned out for them. Your poor teenage heart. It isn’t equipped for decisions like this. Except maybe. Maybe. It is.”

It would also help with dealing with some of the smaller details in the book that could have done with more explaining. I feel like Kate’s relationship with Lehna was only slightly gone into and the same with Violet. If it was longer then I think there’d be less confusion or lack of info on both relationships. I do, however, think that Mark’s relationships were detailed fantastically but I didn’t really feel a connection to the character outside of relationships and personality. I just couldn’t picture him as a body with more going on than what the book detailed.

“Here we come. It’s our parade.”

Also, what was up with that Brian guy? Was he just a really bad gay stereotype or was he just acting that way because of his job? That was something that should have been explained too.

But regardless of the limits that have been set due to the relatively short length, this is one fantastic read that is bound to become a favourite.

Allegiant – Veronica Roth

Title: Allegiant

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s

Re-release Date: December 31st 2015

Rating: 5 stars

“The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered – fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature – and of herself – while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.”

(I received a digital copy of this book in return for an honest review)

Read my review of Divergent and Insurgent.

So Allegiant has been given a lot of stick on Goodreads and, whilst I can see some of their points, I still continue to love the final book. In fact, I loved it even more than the first two parts of the series which should be testament to how I feel right now. I think I’m going to organize this review so that all the (awesome) positives come last and you walk away thinking ‘damn I really have to check out the whole series’.

Unfortunately, there were some aspects to Allegiant that I didn’t like. There was a moment in the first part of the book where I got really excited and was tricked into thinking that this was going to  be one of those series finales where every character that was not Tris would be involved and given a large(r) part to the story. There was this fabulous, and I mean fabulous, moment between Zeke and Tobias where their relationship just felt so real and so funny that I was head over heels and wishing with my whole heart that their relationship would be featuring throughout the book. I was wrong. In fact, when the two characters meet again, Zeke doesn’t even feel like a real person, just a piece of cardboard. This may be an exaggeration but OMG I was so disappointed.

“Is this Prior?”

“In the flesh.”

“Why’s he bleeding?”

“Because he’s an idiot.”(…)

“I didn’t know that idiocy caused people to just start spontaneously bleeding from the nose.”

And also:

“I’ll miss you.”

“You too, sweetie”

All through Divergent, Tobias and Tris have annoyed me. I have no idea what there is between them that makes them love each other so much. It is still bugging me a week after finishing the series. And again, throughout Allegiant, as it was throughout the other books, there was this whole umming and ahhing where the characters were constantly wondering whether they should break up. YOU ARE GETTING BORING. I have stopped caring about their relationship. In fact, if you put me in either Tobias’s or Tris’s shoes, I would definitely be harboring some sort of deep hatred or at the very least some sort of anger towards the other.

In fact, Tobias himself was just annoying. In the other books he was like this piece of iron that would not be bent. But now? He is so flat and flimsy you could bend him back on himself and he probably wouldn’t even feel it. I get that he was feeling like a ‘rejected’ but ugh, he was such a strong character he can’t fall this far can he? His nickname is FOUR for a reason. Or shall we nickname him ‘pansycake’.

I suppose a fire that burns that bright is not meant to last.

A final annoyance with Allegiant was those two POV’s. They are fully necessary but where was the difference between the two voices? It just wasn’t there. Tobias sounded exactly the same as Tris and it made the whole thing very hard to swallow and keep up with. Maybe the fact that they are effectively the same person what makes them love each other so much? Who knows. But its annoying.

HOWEVER. I loved the ending. Like proper loved. I know you’re not supposed to love endings like this but there is something truly gratifying about having your heart ripped out, you know? And it was just satisfying to see everthing come together the way it did. And all of those annoying ends were tied up in a nice neat bundle. It’s like cleaning your room: a lot of effort to get there but so warming and almost comforting to see everything in its proper place. YES.

I wonder if fears ever really go away, or if they just lose their power over us.

That also brings me onto how much I loved the explanation for everything. Looking back, it was so obvious but, as I’ve said before, I’m a bit of an ignorant reader. But again, Roth has used everything in her power to make this book satisfying. It’s just like the ‘big-cup-of-tea-to-warm-you-up-on-a-chilly-day‘ sort of satisfaction. And there are some obvious faults as this is all fictional but its still clever and imaginative – it’s been fully thought through. It makes reading the two previous books so worthwhile.

Another thing that made me smile more than the Mad-hatter was how this book was, in terms of style, a mix of the first 2 books. In Divergent, you had a lot of slow-paced writing where the plot was only just building up. Then, in Insurgent, there was a complete change of speeds and you ended up with completely fast-paced writing full of action and excitement. Allegiant managed to take the positive aspects of the slow-paced and fast-paced styles and turned it into this perfect tempo that didn’t leave you gasping for breath after every chapter but also didn’t leave you crumbling under the weight of all of that building tension. Top marks for the perfect style, Roth.

I’ll say it one last time: Be brave.

This whole series is something that anyone and everyone has to check out. You have nothing to loose (except for a lot of your water mass through excessive crying at the ending). Just INVEST YOURSELF IN THIS MAGNIFICENT WORK OF FICTION, I IMPLORE YOU.

Insurgent – Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s

Re-release Date: December 31st 2015

Rating: 4 stars

“One choice can transform you – or it can destroy you. Tris Prior’s initiation day should have been marked by victorious celebrations with her chosen faction; instead it ended with unspeakable horrors. Now unrest surges in the factions around her as conflict between their ideologies grows.

War seems inevitable; and in times of war sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge and choices will become ever more irrevocable. Tris has already paid a terrible price for survival and is wracked by haunting grief and guilt. But radical new discoveries and shifting relationships mean that she must fully embrace her Divergence – even though she cannot know what might be lost in doing so.”

(I received a digital copy of this book in return for an honest review)

Read my review of Divergent here.

Let’s start off by saying I loved all the action. There were so many twists and turns on this little roller-coaster ride that I nearly fell off. But, by some twist of madness, I managed to keep up with everything going on. It was quite hard though. There were just so many things to keep track of and some things were just mentioned (like when Evelyn and Tobias were talking when tris was supposed to be asleep) that I felt were just said and we were meant to understand straight away? I don’t know if it’s just me being a distracted reader but everything became understandable at the end. I literally had a light bulb moment and felt like I was some sort of Einstein.

Which brings me to my next point. I actually quiet liked Jeanine. Not in the ‘fave character’ sort of way but wow she’s so clever. Her brain is exactly what I want my brain to be like. Just without the condescending way of talking, the complete lack of empathy and just her overall lack of a soul. I basically want to be clever. I also love the fact the the villain is female. Go Roth for standing up against those dastardly female stereotypes in the media (you know the ones that involve women being sexual objects no matter how heroic or, in this case evil, they are).

“People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them.”

But Tris was SO indecisive. I felt like she was just taking us round a merry-go-round in her hand and ugh it got boring. I could manage it in the first book but in Insurgent? It’s starting to drag. And her constant guilt over Will makes me want to scream too. It was either Will or her, he wasn’t even him when she shot him so why is this so difficult for her to get past. Even Christine and Cara could deal with it and they were really close to him. I would also appreciate it if someone could tell me why Tris and Four are even together in Insurgent. As far as I could see there was no romance at all. It’s literally like they are attracted to each other and they are therefore willing to get killed for each other. It just doesn’t add up. And I’m STILL struggling to see how the characters are the ages they are. They all seem so much older.

Anyway, despite all my frustrations with my emotions, I really did love the second book. And the plot is, and continues to be, intelligent. I know I said this with Divergent but still, Roth has this magical ability where she can keep everything a surprise until the last moment. Which is especially true for the ending in Insurgent. I can imagine her donning a (well deserved) smirk as everyone reaches the end before realizing that there was the sort of ‘middle of the sentence’ cliffhanger that would have killed me if it wasn’t for the fact I can start the next book straight away.

I just want to finish off by sharing my favourite lil’ bit that, I must admit, made me snort ever so slightly:

“‘Got that gun?’ Peter says to Tobias. ‘No’ says Tobias, ‘I figured I would shoot the bullets out of my nostrils so I left it up stairs.'”

All The Rage – Courtney Summers

Title: All The Rage

Author: Courtney Summers

Publisher: St Martin’s Griffin

Release Date: 14th April 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

“The sheriff’s son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything—friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy’s only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn’t speak up. Nobody believed her the first time—and they certainly won’t now — but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear.”

After reading this book, I was so emotionally exhausted that I had literally had to leave it until now to before being able to coherently collect my thoughts. There was probably a bit of physical exhaustion in there too since I was too busy reading this book to sleep (I don’t usually read an entire book in a day but there’s always an exception to the rule and it came in the form of All The Rage).

The best thing about this book (or the worst, depending on how you look at it) was the gritty, harrowing storyline and the beautiful writing that accompanied it. It’s always difficult to read about topics like sexual abuse and it can go horrifically tits up if it’s written about in the wrong way but Summers has managed to carry this off perfectly. It was such an honest narrative that really opened my eyes whilst the writing style so emotive that it made me feel uncontrollably angry. It managed to expose the fact that victims are still blamed for what happened and it’s truly heart breaking to experience an example of how the world choose to treat people effected by sexual abuse.

But then THAT PLOT TWIST.  I was not expecting that ending at all. And it is literally the best thing when you can’t see an ending coming.  I’m not exaggerating when I say I was sat there with my mouth hanging wide open.

I also loved how Romy’s mother and Todd were put across. It’s nice to see how a parent-child relationship can be as positive as this one was as in a lot of YA novels I’ve read the relationships always seem to be quite taught. And the fact that Todd is a great step-father makes everything so much more warm, he’s so supportive and caring and it’s such a light part to an otherwise heavy book.

All The Rage definitely is not an easy, light read but it is so compelling and gritty that you need to get your teeth into it immediately.