The President is Missing, a review

This is a bit of a departure from my usual reads. I actually got this copy from my dad after he read it, he adores Patterson but I’ve never been able to try any of the books he’s been reading because they’re always in the middle of a series. So when I saw this was (at the time) a standalone I knew I wanted to try it to see what my dad saw in Patterson.

I’ll admit, I went into this assuming it would be at best a 3 star read. A mediocre thriller/mystery. And for some absolutely unknown reason I’d assumed Patterson was right wing. Now I’ve read the Maximum Ride series, one he wrong for YA audiences, and he is most definitely left wing. And yet I assumed the middle-ages white guy with loads of dads for reader would be right wing. I was wrong, obviously. And I’m glad of it!

I also had assumed that given the nature of this book, a well known thriller writer collabing with an ex-US president, it wouldn’t be anything to write home about. Yeah I was wrong again.

It’s clear that this was written primarily by Patterson, and I think that was the right choice to make. Where Clinton’s contributions shine through are in making everything just that bit more realistic to real life. There’s nothing revealing in here about the US, no big secrets, nothing to scandalise. That’s not the point of the book. It’s also very positive towards the fictional President. But I think we could all guess that was going to be the case.

Instead what you’ll find in this book is a well written mystery/thriller with an edge over others of it’s type with the realism factor. It’s the little things in terms of the inner running of the office, the reactions of the officials, all those tiny things that you wouldn’t really know about unless you’d lived them. And only former (and sitting) Presidents, and their aids and other high ranking officials, would ever be able to tell us about them.

I also enjoyed the story itself. It did take longer than I anticipated into the book for the President to actually go *missing*, but the set up did make sense and the flow wasn’t interrupted. I also liked the ANTI-Islamophobic stance that the book takes. It’s refreshing to see this coming from a white point of view after all the ridiculous and unwarranted hatred we’ve seen since 2001 (and let’s be honest, before that too).

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 8, Writing: 8, Plot: 8, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 10, and Enjoyment: 8 which gives a score of 8.57 and a 4.5* rating.

The “plot twist” in this wasn’t exactly a huge surprise, but it was still reasonably well done so no complaints there! Now that a second book in this “series” has been released I’m actually tempted to pick it up! And perhaps in the future, once I’ve gotten my tbr down a little more, I might delve into more of Patterson’s adult catalogue. I was pleasantly surprised.

Clockwork Angel, a review

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare is my fourth book by the author and within her world of the Shadowhunters. My first three books were all within the Mortal Instruments series which is set in the modern day in New York, and I’ve decided not to continue with these books. This, instead, is the first book in a trilogy set in Victorian (Edwardian? I’m not sure) London, England.

I enjoyed this book more than I’d expected. This was the last book that I was gunna read from Cassandra Clare and I wasn’t expecting anything special. But it was an interesting book and quite fun!

There was the usual (i.e. stereotypical) YA pining over love interests, which I personally have less time for now as an adult. However, I did also like the plot against our protagonist and her family. The twists and turns this plot took were so engrossing and so much fun.

In CAWPILE I gave this book: Characters: 8, Atmosphere: 7, Writing: 5, Plot: 7, Intrigue: 7, Logic: 6, and Enjoyment: 8. That gave me a rating of 6.86 which is a respectable 3 stars.

So like I said, I enjoyed this more than I had expected, but I still think it’ll be the last Cassandra Clare book I read. I imagine that I would’ve adored these books if I’d read them back when I was 12/13. But at 25 these are very much just not for me anymore. I’ve unhauled all of my Shadowhunter books and I hope that some teenager out there finds them and loves them!

Prodigy, a review

Prodigy by Marie Lu is the second book in the Legend trilogy. This is, in essence, your standard YA dystopian with a girl from the rich and privileged side of society meeting a boy from the downtrodden side and learning that things aren’t as they seem. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still enjoyable!

I do think that this book suffers a little from second book syndrome, where not a lot happens. However, I did like the worldbuilding that we got, and the very end of the book was fascinating. I’m excited for Champion and seeing where the story finishes!

On CAWPILE I gave this book 7 out of 10 across the board (for characters, atmosphere, writing, plot, intrigue, logic, and enjoyment) which gives me a 4 star rating. Higher than I had been expecting and looking back on this a few months after having read it I think it should probably be bumped down to a 3 star read.

I’m still excited for book three, however, and I hope it’ll be a good finale!

Pet, a review

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi was gifted to me by Olivia Savannah from Olivia’s Catastrophe after a really tough time for me. It was the most lovely surprise and I’m so so grateful!!

This YA Fantasy is a really short book, but it packs a big punch in it’s few pages! We follow a young trans girl named Jam who’s mum is an artist. One day a painting seems to come to life and a monster named Pet is let lose in the world. This world is a Utopia, the bad people are all gone. But Pet says that there’s still a monster here. That it’s preying on someone she loves, and Jam decides to work with Pet to save them.

This is a beautifully written book, I was hooked for each and every second. Emezi has beautiful writing that I’ve loved before (in Freshwater) and she’s adapted perfectly to the YA style.

For my CAWPILE ratings I gave this book:

Characters: 9

Atmosphere: 9

Writing: 8

Plot: 9

Intrigue: 9

Logic: 9

Enjoyment: 10

And to literally no one’s surprise this gives me a score of 9.00 which is of course a 5 star rating!!!

There’s also been a sequel? prequel? that’s based on Jam’s mum and I am *so* excited to get to read this when it’s published! Let me know if you’ve read Pet and what you thought of it!

Strong women in media

 

Matt Killeen is an author I love from his Orphan Monster Spy WWII YA series, so when I saw that he had a small (like 45 pages small), free, eBook I knew that I needed to pick it up! It’s a collection of short essays about the strong, powerful women portrayed in media and how it shaped his childhood to end up in him becoming a feminist.

I will be honest and say that I hadn’t heard of all of these women. I don’t watch many movies, so that was part of it, but also just from exposure to different media. I did, however, really enjoy learning about them and I can see how this would be a great book for teenagers to delve into and find more women to admire.

This is a short review for a short book, but overall I believe you should pick this up. It’s free and quick to read so there’s no loss to you if you don’t like it, and it mentions some fantastic women who should be praised more often.

My First Buddy Read Was Amazing!!!

I had never buddy-read a book before, I had just never had the opportunity. But me and Caitlyn got chatting and we both really wanted to read An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir so why not!!

A YA fantasy, we follow from two different perspectives throughout this story. One is from the subjugated race, a Scholar, the other is from the Martials. The race which overthrew them and maintains control. As you can guess, we get a good rounded viewpoint of the story!

There were so many times me and Caitlyn were messaging each other in CAPS LOCK BECAUSE WHAT THE ACTUAL F*** IS HAPPENING!?!?! So that should tell you some of how amazing this book is! It completely draws you in and Sabaa Tahir has managed to write the characters so beautifully that they really come alive on the page and you’re changing your allegiance and routing for different sides and different scenarios!

This is an amazingly written fantasy and I also think that the book is the perfect length. You finish just at the perfect point, and I am really looking forward to when I pick up A Torch Against the Night. I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here! If you’re at all interested in fantasy reads and/or YA I really do recommend this beautiful book. I’m so glad I’ve finally read work by Sabaa Tahir and I look forward to delving in again in the future!

The Girl in the Blue Coat – a review

Yet another WWII book, nobody who follows me is surprised. But let’s be real I’m not going to stop, so let’s get into my review.

I listened to this book, as an audiobook, thanks to my libraries online app. Although this let me read the book when I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to due to time constraints, I feel like it also distanced me from the characters and what happens to them. This could be Monica Hesse’s writing style, but it seems to happen more frequently to me with audiobooks so I’ll have to read a physical copy of this book in order to find out. This distancing meant that I wasn’t massively impacted by the events as they happen to the characters, however, this doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the book. I gave it 4/5*s! I just didn’t cry at any of the plot twists, which is why it didn’t hit the 5* mark.

We follow Hanneke as she is working within the black market during WWII in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We see her making deliveries during the day, hiding what she does from her parents at night, and morning her boyfriend Bass in every moment as he was killed on the Dutch front lines. During a standard delivery, one of the women wants help from Hanneke, it turns out that she wants her to try and find a Jewish teenager that she was hiding in a secret room. She has vanished and the woman is incredibly concerned for her safety. Eventually Hanneke is convinced into helping find her, and the web of the Dutch resistance closes in around her and opens her eyes to the horrors of the Nazis.

I really enjoyed watching the various characters develop, come to trust each other and work to help those worse off than them. This is also, unless I am remembering incorrectly, the first WWII book I have read which was set in the Netherlands and followed Dutch characters. It was very interesting to me to see how this country was impacted by the Nazis regime and how the Dutch people resisted in little and large ways.

This is a beautifully written book and personally I think it is a very important topic. Books set in WWII, in all different areas, all have something that can be taken away from them and applied to the modern day. This book tells us that we should help those who are being treated inhumanely, and to use our privilege to help as many people as we can. Don’t let horrendous acts happen under your nose in your own country, and not take action against them. Even if no one else knows that you’re doing it.

I definitely recommend this book and I aim to try out anything else Monica Hesse releases.