Review: To be honest

To Be Honest by P.J. Young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was sent this book to review by the author and really liked the blurb for the book.

The book follows the main character Lisi and the trials and tribulations she suffers as a teenager. She has an unhealthy obsession with her English teacher, Miss Mint, as she thinks that she is perfect and aspires to be exactly like her. After a freak weather event, Lisi find out exactly what it is like to be Miss Mint!

I found the very beginning of the book a little slow, partly because I find it a little difficult to identify with teenagers who live a different life to my teenage years. I liked Lisi, although she could be irritating sometimes. I think that the writing has captured her teenage naivety and blinkered approach to other people’s feelings particularly well. Once the twist in the book happened and Lisi and Miss Mint swapped lives I couldn’t put the book down!

The book dealt with some hard issues like eating disorders, friendship and money worries very well in a light hearted way, but without being insensitive. I also liked the way that the reader found out that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side and that appearances can be deceptive.

The voice of the book is very modern with popular culture references, but it is done very well without being annoying or overdoing the references.

I would read more from this author and would give this book a well deserved 4 stars.


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Review: The Boy Who Made it Rain

The Boy Who Made it Rain by Brian Conaghan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I requested this book from NetGalley as the blurb sounded interesting and I was interested in how it would be presented to the reader to make it stand out from other similar novels.

I enjoyed reading this book and found it easy to get into. The first half of the book is told from a number of different characters’ points of view and each character’s voice comes across via a slightly different writing style. Some of the sections were partially written to be read with a Scottish accent in your mind, in a style reminiscent of Irvine Welsh. These sections didn’t work so well for me as I found that they didn’t quite live up to Welsh’s well honed talent for capturing the Glaswegian accent on paper.
Some of the characters were more likeable than others. I particularly liked Rosie, but hated her friend Cora. I quite liked having a love/hate relationship with the characters as I found it made hearing their views more interesting for me as a reader.

The second half of the book is dedicated to hearing Clem’s side of the story. This was my favourite half of the book and the character that I felt most invested in. As the reader I could sympathise with Clem as he adjusted to the new culture of his new area and how he was the outsider for being English and being classed as “posh”. I felt that the writer dealt well with Clem’s new relationships and also with the bullying he was experiencing. I think this is a subject which isn’t often dealt with from a boy’s point of view.

One of the things that grated on me slightly about this book was that it was littered with a large number of quite random popular references from the last five years or so with no thought of how relevant they are in modern culture to teenagers today. It is only a small point, but for the sake of the longevity of the book and future readers I would have liked to be able to pin the references down to a specific period in this time of constant change.

All in all an enjoyable read and I have given it 3.5 stars.


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Review: The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was a little bit wary about reading this book as I was worried that it could be upsetting and a bit depressing as it is about a teenage girl with cancer. I need not have worried.

This book was my firsty foray into reading some of John Green's writing, and it definitely won't be my last! I was drawn into the story straight away and really loved the friendly writing style. In fact, I could barely put this down when I was reading it.

We follow the story of Hazel who is a 16 year old terminal cancer patient. She is convinced by her parents to join a support group to meet some fellow sufferers and give her chance to get out of the house. She meets a new friend in Isaac and subsequently meets his best friend Augustus. Hazel gets close with Augustus and they eventually start going out.

The book is very funny in parts and there are also parts that made me cry. It is wonderfully written and I especially liked the parts about Hazel's favourite book and going to meet the writer. A lot of the time you were able to forget that she was any different to other teenagers, until something popped up to remind you.

The book has a bittersweet ending, and I will warn you, don't read it in public, you may not want to be around people when you read it. The book is in no way depressing and leaves the reader wanting more. This book will stay with me for a long time and I would certainly recommend it to others to read.

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Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I know that a lot of people LOVE this book, but it just didn’t do it for me. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, as I did. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as similar coming of age/young adult type of books that I have read recently.

I read this book after seeing a lot of recommendations for it and managed to get hold of a Kindle copy to sate my curiosity. The book is written in a diary format using letters to an unknown person. I liked this style of writing as I have read a number of other books written in a similar way and if used well, it can be very effective.

The book follows a number of characters, but is written from the point of view of a 15 year old boy named Charlie. Charlie is a bit of an outsider who starts hanging around with some older kids and we follow a year of his life through his letters.

The book itself touches on a number of subjects such as drug use, mental ill health, sexuality and death and I think deals with them quite well. I do think that mental ill health could have been expanded a bit more as Charlie’s psychiatrist plays such a big part in his life, but there may be reasons for it being written the way it is.

I have given this book three stars as although I enjoyed it, it wasn’t unputdownable and I didn’t feel as though I connected with Charlie as well as I have with the main characters of similar books. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I had read it when I was younger as I experienced similar feelings of being an outsider when I was a teenager. Overall, a good read, but if you enjoy this, there are some better young adult books dealing with similar themes out there.


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Book Review: Catching Fire

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just as I did with the first book, I really enjoyed this book. It kept me gripped all the way through, but I have given it 4 stars as I didn't think the ending was strong enough.

I like that there is a cliffhanger and I couldn't even begin to guess what will happen next, but I think it is a little rushed. I also think that the writer may have forgotten that although this is part of a trilogy, it is a story in it's own right and the ending should be a little more rounded, yet still want readers wanting more.

Despite this one tiny thing, I still loved the book and have no idea what will happen in the next one.

I would recommend it.

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Book Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was looking forward to trying this book as I had heard so many good things about it. I was a little apprehensive as it is totally outside of the type of books I normally read and I usually avoid young adult books.

I had a very pleasant suprise with this book.

It is really well written and creates vivid imagery for the reader without being over descriptive. It is fast paced and gripping and accurately portrays the relationships between characters.

I thought that the story itself was really well thought out and I liked that it was a really well rounded story that could be a stand alone as well as part of a trilogy.

The main character Katniss is stuboorn, but very likeable and I think she would appeal to most people in one way or another. Her relationships with other characters are really well described and you can feel her happiness and pain throughout the book.

I definitely recommend this book and look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

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