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Juliet,
I know you’ve been waiting three months for this apology, but I have to start by saying that this isn’t an apology. I’m not sorry. I’m not. (1, Heart Shaped-Bruise, Byrne)
I approached this book with a little bit of concern; for a start I talked to Tanya on twitter and she is a wonderful person and I was dreading reading her debut and not liking it and having to tell her that, but it did sound amazing. The press release also compared it to one my favourite all-time novels, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, which set my expectations exceptionally high. As you know, high expectations can easily lead to disappointment though.
I was not disappointed in the slightest however. In fact, in the end I had to try and hold in my inner-fangirl and a long post about why this book and author is amazing. Whether I succeeded or not, I’ll leave up to you!
Heart-Shaped Bruise (HSB) tells Emily Koll’s story; she begins the novel in a psychiatric ward of a young offenders’ institution awaiting trial for an as yet unknown crime. Having listened to Tanya Byrne at the fabulous Creative Voices events at Foyles last week, she explained that Emily in fact has Borderline personality disorder, but has not been told this yet and that is why she behaves how she does.
The reason, we are told, for whatever leads Emily to await trial is to do with when Emily’s dad kills Juliet’s parents and she stabs him, everything is thrown into turmoil for both characters. Emily is shocked to learn her dad is a gangster, a murderer, and Juliet is placed in witness protection. When we’re young, we believe our parents are like superheroes and like Emily, I can remember the first times I realised my parents were human or they disappointed me. Granted it wasn’t quite so extreme, or illegal, for me, but that sense of betrayal and loss of innocence is one of those horrific things that happens before your grow up generally. Therefore, I could see why she blamed Juliet, as a catalyst, for everything. Naturally, I don’t condone stalking someone in witness protection and befriending them though which is what Emily does.
Both characters take on new identities within the novel which I found really interesting. As a teenager, I constantly attempted to reinvent myself, but the many incarnations of Lucy were still Lucy. Having to utterly change myself, my name, my look, everything? I don’t know if I could have done it or how I would have felt.
There is wonderful skill in Byrne’s characterisation; Emily pulls you right in and even though you know she’s done something wrong, you feel a great deal of emotion, even sympathy towards her. When you feel sympathy and like the villain of the novel, you know the author is doing their job really well and to be honest, this is a genuinely gorgeous book which has left me desperate to see what Tanya Byrne will do next. If this is her debut, what about her second or third novel?
The prose is beautiful and very quotable in places, a quality which I adored. I absolutely devoured my copy and read it in a matter of hours as I couldn’t put t down. This is definitely able to crossover into the adult market, in fact the hardback is the adult cover and the paperback will be the YA, but I don’t think it matters. This is a novel teenagers will get swept away by, this is also a novel I think adults will be swept away by. The main point here is obviously the sweeping.
There is a sort of romance and very slight love triangle, but it is written in such a way it doesn’t really feel like a triangle. I would say that this is because
I can’t spoil the end for you, but I hated it. I understood it, but I hated the decisions made by certain characters, but I was not a happy bunny.
If you loved The Perks of Being A Wallflower, are a contemporary YA fan, I cannot recommend this book highly enough to you. It already is in my top books of the year, and in one of my all time favourites perhaps already too.
Heart Shaped Bruise is Tanya Byrne’s debut novel and out now. I received a free proof of this novel in exchange for the above honest review.
These days, internships are part of life for graduates who want to get into competitive fields like publishing, the music industry, in fact most industries now. Therefore as a recent graduate, I was really interested in The Intern, Dillon Khan’s debut novel. Khan tells the story of Jay Merchant who has landed one of the hottest internships around for The Beat, a music television show. There is only one job and several interns though, so how far will Jay go to seal his dream job?
The Intern does not glamorise the music industry, while the drugs and parties are plentiful, so are the long hours and toll on personal relationships, including Jay’s relationship with his girlfriend, friends and life overall.
Jay was a well-rounded character. I didn’t always like his actions, particularly how he neglected his girlfriend at times or his desperation for the job (I do understand he sacrificed a lot and it was his dream job) but I believed he was sincere and really worked hard to try and get the job.
The Intern is filled with nostalgic pop culture references to the end of the nineties and early noughties; Big Brother, S Club 7, that really annoying song everyone used to know called U-G-L-Y. I personally liked this as this was the music scene I grew up in, however I wonder if a teenager now would find this dated or unappealing.
I read a fellow UK blogger’s review for this novel (Raimy @ Readaraptor) and wanted to link to it as I think she raised the same point about age as I was thinking and she said she felt it was more for 18-25 years old. While this was because of content, my personal feelings is that the music references themself made it more appropriate for the latter end of YA and the 18-25 crowd rather than the content. Raimy and I were talking on twitter and we both agreed it had a David Nicholls vibe to it. Khan’s writing is very skilled and really captured Jay’s voice well.
There are a lot of references to drugs and concepts I think that might be unsuitable for younger teens and YA readers, but I think people over the age of about 15/16 should be fine, dependent on personal maturity of course.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel; it was compelling, entertaining and insightful. I think this is an excellent crossover novel and people interested in the music industry will love this novel. I would also recommend it to people who may not ordinarily read YA, like recent graduates, as it was very insightful into the world of internships and postgraduate life.
I would also like to show you the awesome book trailer for the Intern as well:
I received my copy of The Intern for free from Razorbill/Puffin (Penguin UK) in exchange for my honest review. The Intern is available to buy now from bookshops and online retailers.
Jenna is slowly attempting to rebuild her life after the car accident that killed her best friend and left her permanently scarred from burns to her face. The crash has had divisive repercussions in her village as the drunk teenage driver was not convicted, and her father has started a campaign and charity in response to this about teenage drink-driving.
Ryan is a traveller who arrives in Jenna’s village expecting the same frosty reception and prejudice. As Jenna and Ryan keep bumping into each other, a friendship is formed which gradually becomes something more intimate. When a body is found and a murder investigation mounts, Ryan comes under scrutiny as a suspect.
As soon as I read the summary for this novel, I knew I was going to love it and I was not disappointed. Jarratt’s debut simply blew me away. We are all guilty of prejudice in some way and this novel proved this to me. I have watched shows like My Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and while I know much of it is exaggerated for entertainment, I have at times been guilty of prejudging travellers. Ryan’s position as a traveller however challenged my preconceptions here and I really respect Jarratt for doing this.
The romance between Ryan and Jenna was gradual and sweet, I adored the two of them together and really wanted them both to get some sort of happy ending. I loved that both of their own issues, Ryan’s mother’s bipolar and Jenna’s difficulties after the accident weren’t just used to make them angsty couple fodder, but to put up obstacles and barriers as such issues would in the real world.
Ryan’s arrogance was well-written and just stopped short of making me think he was a jerk, but made him feel like a real person and the sort of person who, were he not a traveller and stigmatised for that, would totally be that popular fun guy at school.
Jarratt very sensitively handled Jenna’s accident and scarring and truly showed the pathos of such an event for a teenager (let’s face it, teenagers can be brutal about looks) without ever making Jenna too self-pitying.
The crime and repercussions were compelling and I was constantly trying to work out who had killed the murder victim.
Overall, this is the sort of novel I would want to write myself, the novel I wish I was writing now. It’s funny, heartfelt, poignant and completely evocative of what it’s like to be a teenager, to be judged and first love. I highly, highly recommend it.
I received my copy of Skin Deep through Electric Monkey, the teen imprint of Egmont UK, in exchange for my honest review, which you can read above. Thank you so much to the publishers for sending me this book. Skin Deep is available to buy now and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Recommended if you’re a fan of: Contemporary YA
- Katie Dale
-YA set in Britain
- Books that challenge your thinking
On the day of her murdered sister Megan’s funeral, Alice receives an email from her. Ignoring it and deciding it’s a horrid joke, she then receives an invite to Soul Beach from Megan.
Soul Beach is a virtual world inhabited by the young, beautiful and… dead. As she revels in being able to talk to Megan again, though discovers she can’t find out anything from Megan about her murder at this point Alice finds herself more and more obsessed and addicted to the glamorous virtual world and getting to know her new friends, including all American Danny. From her unique position as a visitor, Alice is desperate to solve the murder and help her new friends as much as she can.
I adored the concept of this novel. In my own WIP I’m concentrating on how someone continues with their life after a tragic event such as a murder, and Harrison’s exploration of this and the ever important contemplation of life after death is intelligently written, but accessible and enjoyable for teenagers. Harrison does not trivialise Megan’s murder and the aftermath is poignantly explored through Alice and her family. When someone is taken from you so awfully, how do you go on with everyday life? Also when someone dies, what you do if you could talk to them again? What would you give and how much would it mean? We all have things we wish we could say to lost loved ones and so I really related to Alice and her desire to spend time with Megan again and understood her obsession.
The addiction to Soul Beach was another interesting strand of the novel. I’m sure Harrison intended the obsession with the site to mirror teenage reliance on the internet and sites like Facebook, but thankfully Harrison just misses making this didactic and putting off readers. I was particularly interested in how Alice seemed to be fading from the real world and existing more, being alive more, in Soul Beach. How can a person feel more real in a virtual world and what happens when this is the case?
The world of Soul Beach is seductive but also has a less comfortable side; everyone has sex to pass the time and there isn’t really much else for the dead teenagers to do. Everyone is good looking, something human Alice is a little intimidated by, understandably. I loved the development of her friendship with Danny, who is happy to talk to someone with knowledge of the living world and a diverse set of interests.
This is the first in a trilogy, the second Soul Fire will be published in July and I cannot wait to read it. Harrison has left a lot of questions and mysteries to be explored in the following books, particularly around Megan and why she was murdered that I am certain will come to light. Soul Beach poses some deep and interesting questions about the afterlife, reality and grief in an accessible and unpatronising dark novel.
This is an assured debut and a compelling opening to a new trilogy for YA lovers. Definitely worth checking out! The very lovely Nina at Indigo/Orion kindly provided me with a copy of this for review and it was signed by the author as well! As usual, my review is honest and unaffected by whether or not I received the book from the publishers, author or went out and bought it myself.
Recommended if you’re a fan of: British YA
- Contemporary YA with a spooky twist
-Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones or any other books about life after death.
Gemma Malley writes dystopia really well. Her previous series, The Declaration, was one of my favourite additions to the genre and I was extremely excited about reading her next series which opens with the Killables. While dystopian YA is somewhat monopolised by American authors, Malley’s dystopian has more of a British feel about it (The Declaration in particularly is quintessentially English). The Killables however, does have an ‘any-place’ vibe in its setting which I think works for the novel and its themes particularly well.
In a time where ‘evil’ is removed from your brain and you are graded on your subsequent capacity for badness and evil, The Killables is set a utopian society with a sinister side. Evie, our main protagonist, is a B (solid, acceptable, could be better, just like me in school a lot!) and engaged to Lucas, an A, and epitome of what the city admires. Evie works in label changing, meaning that when the city’s computer either demotes or promotes a person’s letter, she is in charge of sorting out the system. Anything below a D, deviant, means that person is liable to be marked out in the city as evil, while the worst of the labels, K, remains mysterious as no one knows what happens to them.
She is also terrified she is evil. From her many nightmares to her secret passion for Raffy, her fiancé’s brother. Evie is desperate to be good and live by the rules, but when Raffy is branded a K though; everything changes as both Evie and Raffy run from the city.
I found that this was a really interesting book, if a little slower than Gemma Malley’s previous series. As the opening to the series, I definitely found that my interest was piqued and that I really want to read what happens next. I particularly liked that while the ending served as an appetiser for the second book, it also felt like a proper ending that didn’t make me want to squeal.
The concept of this novel is particularly striking; while we’ve had novels about love being forbidden (Delerium is one recent example), controlling evil seems more utopian than dystopian. After all, a society without rape, murder, war sounds ideal. However, reality tells us that as flawed creatures, it would be unlikely to remain perfect and Malley depicts this wonderfully. The idealism of the City coupled with how it treats one resident when they are downgraded to a D and the ranking bias proves that this is not a great place to live.
While Evie and Raffy are in the City, I did feel the story was a little slower and less pacy than I might have expected, however when they run away it really picked up for me personally. The romance between the two felt very sweet and honest; they were a couple I could believe in and root for. That said, their relationship is not a smooth ride and I did find myself mentally wanting to curse Malley for some of the obstacles she put in their way. I definitely am looking forward to seeing what comes next for the two of them and how their relationship survives.
I would also add this book can work as both a YA and crossover novel. As all the teenagers have left school and hold jobs in accordance with the City’s conventions, this lends itself well to adult readers as well as the characters have a slightly more experienced world than in some YA novels.
If you are a dystopian fan then I think the Killables will have a lot to offer you. The Killables offers a window into considering more about what evil even is and would we ever be able to destroy it. I received my copy for free from Hodder & Stoughton and am as always grateful and thankful for the opportunity. My review is not affected by how I obtained the novel.
The Look is one of those books that will either work well, or not work at all. Combining something many teenage girls dream about like modelling with a nightmare of cancer is a risk. So full credit to Sophia Bennett for pulling it off.
When Ted (Edwina) Trout is spotted by a modelling agency, she is certain it is a joke. Her sister, Ava, is the beautiful one after all. However, after her sister’s shock diagnosis of cancer and with Ava’s encouragement (and at time’s orders) she decides to try modelling to bring in a little extra money and also relate more to her sister, who has always been the fashion aficionado of the two. When,
This book was not what I expected at all. I loved the relationship between Ava and Ted the most; they really had this wonderful closeness and rivalry and felt like real siblings. Both of them are created so naturally and well-written that the scenario of becoming a model felt more grounded than mere wish-fulfilment. In both instances, Bennett steers her novel clear of saccharine and unrealistic feelings, but doesn’t avoid the more unsettling aspects either. It is not an ‘edgy’ or ‘gritty’ read though, but neither it is 100% froth.
The Look, for me, was not so much about dealing with a sibling’s cancer, or becoming a model, but about sisters and their unconditional love for one another. That said, obviously both of the above are significant themes and focuses of the novel.
The modelling world was well-written and really interested me- both in terms of its extravagant aspects and the the pressure and problems Ted was presented with. I adored that even with these difficulties, Ted was able to assert herself as a character and became more and more confident throughout the novel.
I loved the subtle romances in the Look too; they never took away from the main focus of the book and they also felt very real and teenage. Ava’s boyfriend in particular was a character I really warmed to, as was Ted’s quasi-romantic interest.
Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of British YA, contemporary YA and novels about sisterly bonds, as well as those interested in modelling. Also although you should never judge a book by it’s cover, I have to mention how lovely the cover is. The edges of the pages are pink and it’s just a really cute looking novel.
I received this book for free from Chicken House UK and am very grateful for the opportunity to read and review it. As always my review has not been affected by how I received the book!
Hollow Pike is James Dawson’s debut novel and is a welcome addition to the British young adult movement. It tells the story of Lis, who has moved in with her sister and her husband in Yorkshire after being hounded out of her school by bullies.
When she is bullied again by the class tormentor, Laura, Lis bonds with the school outcasts; Kitty, Delilah and jack and they scheme to teach her a lesson. After a practical joke however, Laura is killed.
Now, Lis and her friends need to solve the murder because they were also in the woods that night and may be in danger themselves.
The novel is set in a small town filled withlore and legends of witchcraft and Dawson brilliantly sets up the suspense here. For me, I never doubted Hollow Pike and its superstitious residents and minor characters like Mrs Gilespie create this atmosphere.
James Dawson has been a teacher and worked within diversity and bullying and this shows in his writing. His depiction of bullying in schools is brutally honest, as are the teachers’ reactions – I am pretty sure in middle school I had the exact same conversation as Lis with Mr Grey when he learns of her bullying – and this makes the novel more authentic and creates a plot and characters that feel so real and honest, I think teenagers will find something to relate to within this novel and love it.
Dawson’s use of sexuality and the relationship between Kitty and Delilah is another testament to his writing. While some depictions of anything other than heterosexuality seem to ignore the concept or existence of bisexuality – yes, Glee, I’m looking at you, Kurt – Dawson’s characters are cautious and working out who they are, whether they like boys, girls or both and it is written very well.
I loved the romantic development between Lis and Danny and thought it was a great portrayal of a teenage romance and that all encompassing first love and the doubts you’re good enough.
This is not a particularly supernatural book, it is more a novel about the fear of an act than the act itself – the Crucible by Arthur Miller is offered as comparison frequently throughout the novel. For me, Dawson’s strengths were his depictions of bullying, family, friendship and romance. I really look forward to more of his writing in the future.
I received my copy for free through Orion/ Indigo and am grateful for this. I was even more excited when I realised it was a signed copy and would like to thank Orion for sending me this. The tone of my review or content has not been influenced by any of the above.
As my first review for the 2012 British Book Challenge I am partipating in, I would like to present you with my review of Torn!
I loved Cat Clarke’s debut novel Entangled so I was incredibly excited to read her sophomore effort. Torn continues Clarke’s now characteristic style of a novel heavy in realism that seems to have a paranormal edge at the same time. In all her novels, this paranormal edge can be argued at the end to be some psychological or imagined experience; the entire room and premise of Entangled for example and a certain shall we say, presence in Torn. Both novels are incredibly harrowing thematically and are beautifully written.
Torn tells the story of the fallout during and after a school trip to Scotland where the narrator Alice, her best friend Cass, outsider Rae, Polly the try-hard-wannabe-but-failing and Tara, the mean girl, are all in true fashion lumped together with one another in a cabin. While this is a bit of a cliche, it is kind of true, I certainly remember at school trips being put in rooms with people I didn’t like, but like Alice, I always had a good friend in my dorm as we could ‘choose’ one of our roommates beforehand. By the end of the trip, Tara is dead and the novel opens with her memorial service as the book intertwines the history and the aftermath seamlessly together through Alice.
Alice was a strong narrator. She wasn’t always likeable and at times I really wanted to yell at her, but I liked that as it made her human and I would rather have a character I don’t love all the time than a perfect Mary-Sue. She was a human in a very bad situation and battling with what to do. Without wanting to spoil the novel I found this particularly interesting as the whole challenge between action and passivity is at the heart of the novel.
I loved Clarke’s character development, particularly with Polly, Tara and Alice. Without spoiling the entire novel, the change between preconceptions and someone’s actual self are so well exemplified within these characters in particular.
I loved the romantic aspect to the novel and Jack was simply adorable. I loved his inability to make it clear when it was a date, while I agreed with Alice that a museum doesn’t scream romance, I thought it was so cute.
As with Entangled, Torn ends with room for the reader to decide what happens next. It is interesting that both novels end with a choice after beginning with coping with a situation they have been coerced or forced into. While in some books I find this incredibly frustrating, I think it was the right call for Clarke to make and the perfect ending. The final chapters of the novel were heartbreaking, refreshingly realistic and incredibly well written.
I can’t wait for Clarke’s next novel!
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