OCD Rep All the Way Up

John Green is known for his YA contemporary novels, they cover a variety of topics but seem to have a similar plot line. I’ll be honest, that’s the same here, but there’s a different reason you should pick this book up.

In Turtles, the main character suffers from OCD, and the representation is so ridiculously good. I suffer from mild OCD myself, and no I don’t need everything to be clean, so it was so refreshing to see this done so well here and to actually properly represent the mental illness in a way that society seems to ignore.

Our MC isn’t easy to deal with, her friends struggle to not get annoyed at her quirks and weird behaviours and they impact every waking second of her existence. Sometimes they’ll go away and she can just be in the moment, but they’ll come back again and that bliss is shattered.

I 100% recommend this for brilliant OCD rep and if you want a typical “John Green” book with romance, character building and young people learning about the world then this is one for you.

I always love Shusterman…

A book about water running dry, and you’re giving it to an often dehydrated chronic migraine sufferer with a degree in Geography? Yes please!

God this book was realistic. Creepily so. This is so close to what could actually happen if the taps ran dry, and California is an incredibly likely place for this to happen with its weather and the population density being so high.

This is a ya book, and our protagonists reflect that. We have a variety of view points, from around 13 to somewhere in the late teens (as a Brit I don’t know the US grade system so I can only approximate their ages without doing more research than I can be bothered to!) and this allows Neal and Jarrod to bounce around to different people’s priorities and how various personalities would react in this scenario.

Usually with Neal Shusterman’s writing I just fall into it and everything he writes gets 5* from me. I don’t know if it’s because he was writing with his son or if it’s just this book, but this “only” got a 4* from me. I found the middle to be a bit of a slog, and too much time was spent faffing around with “solutions” which we either already knew they were aiming for or knew they wouldn’t do. However, I still did enjoy the character development within these pages and also loved the beginning and the end of the story.

I’ve heard, on the grapevine, that this has been snapped up to be made as a movie, and I think it could do really well in this format. The slower stuff almost always has to be cut for a filmed adaptation so this should hopefully remove those parts that I was struggling through and focus on the drama and the action. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out on this one!

All in all this was actually a bit of a disappointment. Yes a 4* read was a disappointment. Because I know Neal Shusterman can make me fall in love with a world much more than he did here, and I went in expecting a 5* book and came out with an enjoyable story. But not with a new favourite.

I don’t know. I’ve not had this happen to me before so it’s a rather odd feeling. Have you ever had this experience? Let me know.

Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton

I can’t believe it’s done! I finished the series and I need to read more from Alwyn Hamilton already. (Check out my review of book one here)I ADORED the writing and the characters and the world building and just everything about this series. I had to read all three of these books slowly and take my time because I just wanted to be fully engrossed within the world.

There were some amazing moments within this book, which I won’t go into specifics about to avoid spoiling you if you’re yet to read it, however, they’re awesome and well written and fit the plot so beautifully! It reminds me of the Godkissed Continent series by A.B. Endacott (review of the first book here) which is also a gorgeous fantasy world.

The relationships developed within this story, both romantic and not, are done with so much depth and investment. I really felt as though I knew each relationship intimately and therefore felt what the characters felt deep within me. I cried quite a bit at the end of this book, bittersweetly.

One of my favourite ever trilogies, five stars to all three books obviously, and I look forward to reading literally everything Alwyn Hamilton writes that I can get my hands on!

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada

Okay so I did this backwards, I actually reviewed This Cruel Design (book 2) first. So if you’re interested then that review is available here! I reviewed that one first as I had received an ARC copy from the publishers and wanted to put up my review to coincide with the books release. This is also the first time I’ve been able to slot my review in, despite me finishing this book on the 8th October… so let’s get into the actual review!

Of course, I LOVED this book!!! It was absolutely amazing and I was completely engrossed from start to end. I adored our main character Cat and enjoyed slowly learning more about her background and also learning through her about how the world is and what has happened between now and the future in which this book is set.

The sci-fi, coding and tech side was so developed and clearly Emily had researched it well or previously had a good knowledge as it was in so much detail and was so interesting to learn about. It would be pretty cool if it was real! (Let me ignore the real world implications for a bit, okay?).

The ending of this book absolutely murdered me, as in lying on the kitchen floor making weird noises as my (at the time new) flatmate looked on in confusion. She’s not a reader. Yet. But it killed me and I cannot believe I hadn’t read this sooner. If you like any sort of dystopian, sci-fi, techy reads then definitely give this one a go! I will be reading absolutely everything Emily Suvada publishes in the future thanks to these two beauties ♥♥♥

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

Another WWII book, and one I’m really glad I picked up. This one is unique in that it follows a man and a girl wandering through the wilderness, avoiding the Nazis and trying to stay alive through the seasons.

Anna loses her father when he is taken by the Nazis, and at seven years old was left without anyone to help her. Until the swallow man. He happens to be around when she is sat around and takes a liking to Anna, letting her tag along with him.

This book elicited lots of different emotions from me, with some sections being incredibly sad, disturbing, and once Anna was older there were also some creepy and uncomfortable moments that I hadn’t been expecting when I started this book.

The ending of this book may seem unsatisfactory to some, as it is left very open. However, I surprisingly liked this as we are as knowledgeable as Anna is and what with our understanding of the past we can infer some of what will happen in the future.

Overall this was a very unique little book that I’m very glad I read, and I obviously gave it 5*. There are so many little nuances that I would’ve loved to mention but I didn’t want to spoil anything! So you’ll just have to go read this little gem for yourself to find out what they are 😉

Shattered by Teri Tery

This series can’t be over? Surely?

…

Nope! Teri Terry has a prequel within this world and OMG I need to read it!!!!! But this is about the third book in the Slated trilogy, so let’s get down to business. First obvious thing first, I adored this book, 5/5*, it was amazing.

We not only get the wrapping up of so many loose ends, but at the beginning of the book new ends are created, and some are created by splitting apart threads we had thought were all twisted and wrapped up.

There were so many heartbreaking moments, those which will shock you and those which make you feel warm and fuzzy. There is romance present in this book, and surprisingly for me I absolutely loved it! It took a backseat to the main plot, but was also very much present throughout the book (which I find to represent real life and is my preferred romance representation and gives me the most heart fluttering feels), as well as being slowly developed over time rather than rushed into.

This is definitely a series you should start if you haven’t already (check out my review for book one here and give it a go!) and if you’ve not gotten around to finishing up the series then I hope this pushes you towards it as I massively enjoyed it and am so excited to read more from Teri Terry in the future! I definitely need to get more of her books!!!

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

It took me absolutely forever to read this one, I know I know. But at least I’ve read it now! I hadn’t been expecting to love this, to be honest, it is so hyped on the Bookternet which always makes me wary, and I had also heard a few bad things about rep and character development. However, I definitely want to continue with the series!

It wasn’t a 5* read as there were a couple of problematic aspects and I also didn’t find the writing to be the best (although given Sarah J Maas’ age when writing this I think I can give that a pass as it’s still decent!). I did personally find that there were some points where Celaena’s obliviousness grated a little, as she seemed to not notice the absolute obvious that is staring her in the face. These bits just seemed to be there to further the plot and were not interwoven well enough into the story to not stick out like a sore thumb.

On a more positive note though, I was so engaged and engrossed within this book. I couldn’t put it down and felt so personally invested in Celaena’s story and what was going on! I am definitely planning on continuing on with this series (once I find book #2 in a charity shop!) and I can see myself giving future books a 5/5* review if the writing improves and all my boxes are ticked. Super glad that I finally started this series!!

Fractured by Teri Terry

This is the second book in the Slated trilogy by Teri Terry, (check out my review of book one here) which follows a girl named Kyla after she has been through the slating process and has lost her memories.

Yes, this is the middle book in the series, but it definitely doesn’t suffer from middle-book-syndrome! This book not only keeps up the fast pace set by book one but smashed through that and ups the ante yet again, keeping you on the edge of your seat and making the book incredibly difficult to put down.

There is so much character development within this book, as well as introducing new characters and developing them well also. Kyla’s memories are becoming more clear, although still blurry, and she has a great desire to question why she was slated. Who she had been. This is done very well, and feels very realistic and it also feels that it is how a teenage girl would react to this bizarre situation.

I am incredibly invested in the relationships that have been developed throughout these two books, both those that are romantic and platonic, friendly and unfriendly. There is so much thought and attention to detail put into this book and book three can only get bigger and better! I just hope it doesn’t break my heart in the process!

Have you picked up Slated yet? Or any other books by Teri Terry? I’ve only read this series by her but I definitely need to read more from her!

 

Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton, a review

Book 2 of this series is keeping up the massively high standards set by book one! (Check out my review of Rebel of the Sands here) Yet again I took my time going through this book, but it’s definitely not me slogging through, it’s more that I need to take time to absorb every single one of Alywn Hamilton’s words, each word she writes seems to be there with intent and meaning. Her writing is just so beautiful and I truly have the desire to read absolutely everything she has ever published and ever will publish.

I really enjoyed the time we spent in the palace within this book, it added another dimension to the events of the world and really gives the reader more of an insight as to why people act the way they do. The dynamics of this group inside of the Sultan’s walls was so different from that outside and really added great perspective.

The political side of this war was also more developed in this book, and it meshed so well with the world building and how Alwyn Hamilton showed us the groups of people outside of who we had interacted with in the first book. It gave more insight as to why people were acting in certain ways, and to how the Sultan was looking to manipulate others to achieve his aims.

Overall this is yet another gorgeous book within this series and is something that I one million percent recommend to anybody wanting to read a great fantasy book. Again the writing is absolutely beautiful and it leaves me in awe.

Please tell me you’ve started this series? Do you agree about the beautiful prose that the story is written in? Let me know!

Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken, a review

In March of this year I posted a review of Passenger, which you can find here, and I found Wayfarer to be quite similar. I will start this review by saying that I gave it 4/5 stars, and that I did overall really enjoy it. However, this book did struggle from the overly slow pacing that was present in the first book.

I do absolutely adore Etta and Nicholas, and the plot points were so interesting and are what kept me reading, along with the great characters. I was constantly really annoyed by Etta’s parents as they kept so much from her and weren’t much help overall (this is a compliment, as I feel that Alexandra Bracken intended to write them both this way). Li Min is such a great character and I loved her interactions with Sophie and the LGBT aspects incorporated. I also liked that the only special point of the LGBT relationship was that one character was married to a man due to the constraints of the time that she lived in.

There are many different groups of people, and their personal stories are well developed, to just the right point where you know enough but not too much. There is one specific scene where these groups have congregated, and I greatly enjoyed this and the interactions that were then had.

However, sadly again this book suffered from really slow pacing. As it’s such a large book, it makes it feel even slower and also intimidating to the reader. It’s such a pity as everything else about this duology is great and I get so absorbed into the world. I just wish it wasn’t so… lethargic?

I loved the time zones that we jumped through within this book, and the various different plot points with different characters. It’s such a fun story and I would still read more in the world, so I’m hoping that Alexandra Bracken will release a novella or a collection of short stories (these also may then be faster paced due to their shortness which would be perfect!).

Overall, I really good book and duology that just didn’t quite hit the mark. However, I still do love the world and the characters within it. Maybe give Passenger a go and borrow it from the library?

Have you read this duology? Do you agree or disagree with my views? Let me know in the comments!