Review on The Dream Thieves

Ronan Lynch has three secrets. One of these secrets is that he can take things out of his dreams and place them in the real world. However, with the ley line newly awakened, there have been energy surges in the town, followed by the line weakening. Ronan soon finds out that stealing things out of dreams and the weakening of the line might be connected. With the raven boys coming ever closer in their search for the missing Welsh king Glyndwr, Ronan must try to take control of his dreams. However, Ronan's secret might not be a secret after all. A man known only as The Gray Man is looking for him, and Ronan's life may be in danger.

After reading The Raven Boys I was extremely excited to get hold of the sequel! The book starts a little while after where The Raven Boys finished off, and the boys are very much still in pursuit of Glyndwr. However, Ronan has revealed one of his secrets to his friends, which is that he took his pet raven out of his dreams, and that he is able to do the same with other things. As Ronan was my favourite character in the first book, I was happy that The Dream Thieves focused on him more. I loved learning more about Ronan Lynch, especially his past and the fact that his ability had been passed down to him by his father. Ronan is a very interesting character, and although he is the typical bad boy who is constantly swearing, drinking and street racing, he definitely stole my heart even more in this book. I loved seeing a different side to him, and I found the way he acted towards animals to be extremely sweet. Basically Ronan Lynch is my son and I love him very much.

I loved the idea of being able to take things out of dreams. It was interesting to see the variation of what could be taken out, from living things, physical objects and mythical creatures. I loved that it was shown that the ability could be used for both good and evil, and that bad things could happen if the power was abused. Although the search for Glyndwr plot line took somewhat of a back seat in this story, I adored this new storyline, and how it all still connected back to Glyndwr and the power of the ley line.

I loved that there was little hints that Adam was changing due to sacrificing himself to Cabeswater in the previous book. Adam now has a strong connection to Cabeswater, which due to the weakening of the ley line has seemingly disappeared from existence. Adam gets frightening visions of ghosts who are trying to communicate with him, and he soon finds out it is up to him to restore the ley line and help Ronan. I adored finding out more about Adam's first interactions with Gansey and Ronan when he had first started going to Aglionby, and although he was problematic towards Gansey and Blue on a few occasions, I still love Adam just as much as I did in the first book.

I also have to talk about Noah, which is something I didn't do in my review of The Raven Boys. Although he isn't a main character, I really love Noah and find him completely adorable. I love how he gets excited over simple things such as snow globes, and I particularly loved his friendship with Ronan in this book, as they both have a very silly sense of humour and get on with each other well. I also found myself shipping Noah and Blue which is not something I thought I would ever do! I found the kiss between them both very funny and very sweet, and although I do love the relationship between Blue and Gansey, I was honestly wishing that Blue and Noah could be together.

Although Gansey was shown to be one of the most important characters in The Raven Boys, I felt as if he took more of a back seat role in this book, and gave Ronan his time to shine. Although Gansey was still very much a part of this book, I felt that I didn't learn many new things about him, and that Ronan and Adam were changing a lot more than Gansey was. I did however love the progression of Gansey and Blue's relationship. Usually romance is a plot point that puts me off a book, but I love that the romance in this book is extremely subtle, and surprisingly I'm actually enjoying the romantic relationships forming between the characters.

I loved the introduction of The Gray Man, as he was extremely mysterious, and although he initially seemed like he was going to be the new villain, his character took a surprising turn. I loved learning a little more about him and the reasons why he was trying to run away from his past. Although at first he seemed a little inhuman, it slowly became evident that he disliked his job and just wanted to have a normal life.

I have to mention how much I hated Kavinsky! Joseph Kavinsky, a fellow Aglionby student seems to take a liking to Ronan. However, although he is constantly giving him presents and racing with him, he does it in the worst way possible. I hated that he was homophobic towards Ronan, and was constantly accusing him of being in love with Gansey. I felt as if Kavinsky was jealous that Ronan didn't seem to care about people knowing he was gay, and I loved that when Kavinsky asked him about it directly he didn't feel the need to deny it. I feel as if openly gay and confident characters like Ronan are extremely important in YA, and although Ronan is problematic, he is also extremely likeable.

I loved that the ending of this book brought Cabeswater and Glyndwr back to the forefront, which sets up Blue Lily, Lily Blue to get back on track with Gansey's search. I have extremely high expectations for this series now, and am excited to find out what happens next. I adore all of these characters and can't wait to find out what happens to them!

 

Review on Risuko

When Kano Murasaki's mother sells her to Lady Chiyome, her whole world changes. Although she is told she has been bought to become a shrine maiden, she soon finds out that this is not the truth. Alongside her new friends Emi and Toumi, Murasaki, nicknamed Risuko for her ability to climb, must find out the truth about why they are there. However there is a traitor in their midst who is searching rooms and trying to poison everyone. Risuko must find out who the true culprit is if she is ever to shift the blame from herself.

I found this book while browsing through Netgalley, and as is it is a YA book set in Japan it grabbed my interest. I feel as if the majority of YA books are set in English speaking countries, so I found it interesting that this book was not. The book follows Kano Murasaki, a young girl who has been given the nickname Risuko (Squirrel) as she loves climbing. However she is taken away suddenly from her mother and sister by Lady Chiyome, who explains that her mother has sold her so that she can become a shrine maiden. I found the start of the book to be a little slow, but once they ran into the armies the book picked up pace and I loved the fast paced fights that took place. I especially loved Mieko, one of Lady Chiyome's servants who is an exceptionally good fighter, and easily takes down the soldiers. I loved the idea of training young girls to become samurai's who could easily hold their own against male soldiers.

Although I did love their journey to the school, I did find the middle of the book somewhat boring. Although I loved the little hints that were thrown in that Risuko and her friends weren't actually there to become shrine maidens, I felt as if there was way too much time explaining what they were doing in the kitchen, such as butchering animals and making soup. Understanding what each herb was for was necessary to the plot, but apart from that I felt as if a lot of the time spent in the kitchens was unnecessary and my interest in the plot did start to slip. I loved Risuko's backstory, especially with what had happened to her father and the reasons why he decided to stop being a Samarai and become a scribe.

I loved that there was a traitor in the school who was searching through Lady Chiyome and Misugu's rooms and attempting to poison everyone. I always enjoy trying to guess who it is in these kinds of situations, and I was glad that I had no idea who it could be until it was revealed! It was a huge surprise and there was multiple instances where I suspected a certain character, only to find out that it wasn't them. I loved hearing the explanation for why they did it, along with Risuko trying to save everyone else.

I loved Emi and Toumi and their individual personalities. Although Toumi initially hated Risuko, I loved watching their relationship gradually change to a point where they became reluctant friends. However I did feel as if the male characters needed more work, as I felt as if their personalities weren't revealed to the reader, and although some of the male characters such as Misugu were important to the plot, I felt as if I didn't know enough about him or his background.

There were certain parts of the story which I loved, but as a whole I felt as if there was too much build up to revealing the true reason why Risuko was there, and I was bored for the majority of the book. Although this is part of a series, I was hoping for this book to progress faster than it did and for Risuko's training to get more underway than it did. I'm torn between if I want to continue with this series or not, as although I didn't enjoy this one much, I'm interested to find out what will happen to Risuko next, and if she will become a great Samurai like her father once was. As the next book isn't out until next year, I am afraid that I may forget about this one before the sequel is out.

Risuko is  available to purchase from 15th June!

Amazon US | Amazon UK |  Barnes & Noble | Book Depository 

Review on You Know Me Well

Mark and Kate have sat next to each other in class all year. However, it isn't until they happen to meet at a local gay bar that they actually start talking to each other. They soon find out that they have more in common than they thought, and they quickly form a strong friendship. However, they are both going through personal problems. Mark is in love with his best friend, who doesn't feel the same way about him, and Kate is worrying about her future, and wondering if she is ready to start a new life at college. There's also Violet to consider, a girl who Kate has known for years but who she's only just recently met. As Pride week is in full swing, Mark and Kate must help each other through the week, and decide what they should do.

When I saw the blurb of this book I knew I was going to love it! Although I have never read anything by Nina LaCour before, I am a huge fan of David Levithan so I was excited to start reading this one. The chapters alternate between the point of views of Mark and Kate, which I loved as they are both equally as important as each other. The majority of books have only one protagonist, so I loved that this was a little different, as Mark and Kate were equally important in this story.

As soon as Mark and Kate met I knew that I was going to love this story. Mark is trying to impress his crush and best friend Ryan, while Kate is avoiding meeting the girl who her best friend has constantly been telling her about. I loved how relatable Kate was, as throughout the majority of the novel, she is unsure of a number of things in her life, from meeting Violet in person, to not knowing if she wants to go to college or take a gap year. I loved that Violet was the catalyst that made her come to her decision, and how she became an important person in Kate's life.

I loved how real this book was, as it showed a number of problems that many teenagers face in real life, such as unrequited love, self doubt and huge decisions such as what college to attend. I find that I tend to steer clear of the majority of contemporary novels, as I usually find that they are extremely cliché and repetitive. I loved that this was not the case at all with this book, and although a few problems were resolved, it definitely wasn't a happily ever after, as Mark and Kate still had a long way to go to achieve their ultimate goals. I loved that this showed that life goals take time and don't just happen overnight. I also loved the important message that life is constantly changing, and although you might not live in the same place or have the same friends that you do now in ten years time, you have to live in the moment and stop worrying about too far into the future. I feel as if we are all guilty of this at some point in our lives and are often pessimistic about the future, so I loved that this was addressed in a positive way.

I adored the romance forming between Kate and Violet, and found it extremely sweet and romantic. I loved Violet from the start and found it adorable that she had tried to bring a rose to Kate for their first meeting. I loved the cute little gestures she does for Kate throughout the book, and although their relationship progresses quite quickly, to me it didn't feel forced and seemed to progress naturally. I also loved that they realised how quickly things were progressing, and Violet even asked if she wanted them to tone things down a little. There was no professions of love, which I found to be important as I think rushing into things without getting to know each other first is always destined to end in disaster.

Although I was heartbroken for Mark, I loved that the book showed a realistic interpretation of unrequited love. The majority of us have at some point had a crush on someone who hasn't liked us back, and I feel as if not many YA novels address this extremely common life experience. It would have been only too easy for the authors to have made Ryan change his mind about his feelings for Mark and realise that deep down he wanted to be with him all along, so although I would have loved for them to have become a cute couple, in a way I was actually glad that it didn't happen, as it completely stopped the book from becoming a cliché. I loved that although Mark was clearly heartbroken that Ryan would never be anything more than his best friend, he was still there for him when he needed him. I loved that their friendship didn't end up becoming awkward or that it didn't slowly fade away, and I loved that Mark helped him through his coming out experience.

The friendships in this book were extremely important, and I loved that they were the focus point of this book rather than the romance. I feel as if the importance of friendship is rarely shown in YA books, although to me personally friendship is a more important relationship than romantic ones. A lot of contemporary YA seems to focus on romantic relationships, which I am honestly finding increasingly boring, so I adored that both romantic and platonic relationships were shown in this book. I also loved that it showed that just because two people of the same gender are homosexual, it doesn't always mean that they have to date each other. I particularly loved the friendship between Kate and Lehna, as although they are both lesbian, the idea of being together romantically is something that they've never even though about. I identified with Lehna's struggles, as on multiple occasions I have had close friends replace me with someone else, so I really felt for her when she was upset that Kate was replacing her with Mark.

 The book showed the importance of communication, as although having a conversation you have been avoiding for a while can have an upsetting outcome, it allows you to move on and stop dwelling on the fact that you will inevitably have to have the conversation at some point. I also loved that there was representation of trans and non-binary people, as I rarely come across these representations in YA books and feel as if there needs to be a lot more. I honestly both laughed and cried at this book, and even if like me, contemporary is usually not your cup of tea I would still definitely give this one a read!

You Know Me Well is now available to purchase in the UK, and will be available from June 7th in the US!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Waterstones | Barnes & Noble

Reviewing the Classics #3 Treasure Island

                                                                                         Goodreads Summary:

The most popular pirate story ever written in English, featuring one of literature’s most beloved “bad guys,” Treasure Island has been happily devoured by several generations of boys—and girls—and grownups. Its unforgettable characters include: young Jim Hawkins, who finds himself owner of a map to Treasure Island, where the fabled pirate booty is buried; honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted but obtuse Squire Trelawney, who help Jim on his quest for the treasure; the frightening Blind Pew, double-dealing Israel Hands, and seemingly mad Ben Gunn, buccaneers of varying shades of menace; and, of course, garrulous, affable, ambiguous Long John Silver, who is one moment a friendly, laughing, one-legged sea-cook . . .and the next a dangerous pirate leader!

The unexpected and complex relationship that develops between Silver and Jim helps transform what seems at first to be a simple, rip-roaring adventure story into a deeply moving study of a boy’s growth into manhood, as he learns hard lessons about friendship, loyalty, courage and honor—and the uncertain meaning of good and evil  

  As a child I was obsessed with Muppet's Treasure Island. This was not just a small obsession, this was watching it on VHS at least once a week and knowing every song and most of the dialogue. Although I loved The Muppets in general, I was never as obsessed with any of the other Muppet movies as I was with Treasure Island. There was just something about unknowingly sailing with a bunch of pirates that made it extremely exciting. However, for whatever reason I never did read the book that my favourite movie was based on. Although Treasure Island is a children's book, and I have been an avid reader since a young age I just never got round to reading it until now!

The first thing I have to say is that it is nothing like the Muppet movie that I loved so much as a child, and although Muppet's Treasure Island did include key points such as the apple barrel scene and the death of Billy Bones, there was a lot that was changed. Although this is a book about pirates, as it is a children's book I did not expect it to be as violent as it was. There are multiple deaths in this book, and although they are not too graphic, I still think that this would have shocked me if I'd read it as a child. I also felt that I would have struggled with understanding some of the words if I had read it around the time I was obsessed with The Muppets, so I'm actually glad that I waited until I was an adult to read this book, as I don't think I would have appreciated it much as a child. However that is not to say that children would not enjoy this book, as it is full of action, adventure and of course, the most important thing, pirates. I do however feel as if young children would benefit from having this book read to them by an adult rather than trying to read it for themselves.

I highly recommend the edition with illustrations by Michael Foreman, as I thought they were extremely unique and aesthetically pleasing, and helped to break up the text. Children often enjoy visual representations, so I think that this edition is perfect for children who aren't too keen on reading or find looking at page after page of text daunting or off putting. Although this book was far too large to take with me on public transport, it would make a perfect bed time story.

I loved that there were characters that I'd come across via the Muppet movie such as Jim Hawkins, Blind Pew and Long John Silver, but also characters who for whatever reason didn't make it into the Muppet movie such as Israel Hands. This made it interesting for me and although the overall plot was familiar, there was still a lot of differences to keep me interested and wanting to know what happened next. A lot of the violence was, for obvious reasons not in a Disney movie, so I loved seeing the bravery of Jim Hawkins when faced by deadly pirates and how he single handedly saved himself from their clutches.

Long John Silver was an interesting character, as although he is no doubt the villain of the story, we can't help but feel a little sympathy for him, especially towards the end of the book. Although he is at first the leader of the mutineers, they soon turn against him and he is forced to change sides. I also liked that what happened to him at the end of the book was open to interpretation, as once he escapes the ship with his money, Jim never hears from him again.

It is fairy obvious why this book has stood the test of time, as it is just as exciting now as it was when it was released over 100 years ago. It is a fairly quick read, and the fast paced action makes it easy to read chapter after chapter in one sitting. It has definitely made it's way into my top children's classics, and although purely for the sake of nostalgia I still prefer the Muppet movie, this was still an extremely good book!

Review on The Raven Boys [The Raven Cycle #1]

Every year on St Mark's Eve, Blue Sargent has waited in the churchyard with her mother to discover who was going to die within a year. However, despite being part of a family of psychics, Blue has no psychic abilities herself, and has never been able to see the spirits. However that all changes when she sees Gansey's spirit, a boy from Aglionby, an all boys private school. Blue discovers that the only reason she is able to see Gansey is that she is destined to either kill him or fall in love with him. However, despite warnings from he family to stay away from Gansey, Blue finds herself wrapped up in his plans to find Glyndwr, a Welsh king who has been presumably dead for thousands of years. With the help of Gansey and his friends, Blue must discover and reawaken the ley line before anyone else finds it first.

I decided to read this book as my best friend would not stop talking about this series, and as always she peer pressured me into reading it. I'm so glad that she did as I absolutely adored this book! The first thing I noticed however was that the marketing was really bad, as the blurb on the back of the book focused on the plot point of Blue's true love dying if she ever kissed him. It made it sound like the book was extremely cliché and full of a cheesy romance, and honestly I would never have picked this book up from the blurb alone. However, this is not what the book is about at all, and the romance is extremely minimal which I was surprised at, seeing as it seemed to be marketed as a romance.

I did initially feel as if I wasn't going to like the book as much as my friend seemed to, as I thought that it was a little slow at the start and there wasn't enough going on to keep me fully interested. Blue didn't grab my attention from the start as much as I thought she would. I felt that her character development was a little on the slow side, and I didn't start to really like her as a character until she started interacting with the boys. Blue is a no nonsense character, and I loved that she was never intimidated by the boys, and easily put them in their place. I especially loved her relationship with Ronan, as Ronan initially didn't like her and tried to intimidate her, but once he realised it wasn't working he started acting a lot nicer towards her. I also loved that although a romantic relationship was forming between her and Adam, there was little hints that her destiny was to be with Gansey. Although Adam is extremely sweet and I love both him and Blue, I wasn't too keen on a romance forming between them and enjoyed Blue's interactions with Gansey a lot more.

I absolutely adored the strong friendships between the boys. I find that there is a severe lack of lasting friendships between boys in YA, and that they usually tend to argue with each other over a girl. I loved that this was not the case with these characters, and you could tell that they all really cared for each other and would never let a girl come between them. I loved that although they had all been friends for a few years, Blue easily fitted in with them and quickly caught up to where they were up to in their search for Glyndwr.

I have to talk about the character's themselves, as they were all so perfect and I loved them all. Although I hate picking favourites, I have to admit that Ronan Lynch stole my heart. I'm always trash for cocky characters with a tragic back story, and Ronan definitely did not disappoint in this aspect. I loved that although he looked intimidating and was an all round bad boy, he was also extremely caring towards his friends, and helped Adam with his problems at home without questioning him or putting any blame on him. I also loved how gentle he was towards his pet raven, as it showed a completely different side to him.I adored Adam, as although he is the only one out of the boys who isn't rich, he tries to fit in with them as best as he can. I loved how independent he was, as although it would have only been too easy to accept hand outs from Gansey and Ronan, he worked multiple jobs to pay for his tuition alongside trying to keep up his good grades and helping Gansey in his search. Adam was extremely sweet and although I didn't enjoy the romance forming between him and Blue I could definitely understand why Blue liked him. I loved that non of these boys were the typical perfect, brooding YA male protagonist, as they all had their faults, from having severe allergies to doing badly at school. I always feel as if characters who have some sort of fault always seem more human and relatable, as no one is ever completely perfect in real life.

I loved that although this book focuses on ghosts, psychics and ley lines, it also included some important themes, the main one being child abuse. I was absolutely heart broken that Adam's father physically abused him, and I wanted so badly for him to get out his parents home and be somewhere safe. I felt awful for him and the fact that he believed that he deserved to be abused. I also loved how Ronan's sexuality was brought up in an extremely subtle way, and that Blue didn't react to it in any way. I feel as if a character's sexuality being revealed as anything but heterosexual causes a huge stir in most YA, so I loved how the approach to it in The Raven Boys was completely different to anything else I've experienced when it comes to gay characters. Ronan was treated exactly the same as the straight characters, which is exactly how it should be.

Although it was pretty obvious who the villain of this story was, there was still some major plot twists that I was not expecting at all. I also loved that the plot focused on a Welsh king, as being a Welsh person myself I feel that it is extremely rare for YA authors to even realise that Wales exists. As there is a University in my home town named after Glyndwr, I was already vaguely aware who he was and of the legend, so I loved learning more about it from this book. I also loved that the magic was mixed perfectly with contemporary. I feel as if once a YA character makes a huge discovery such as magic existing, their previous life disappears entirely, so I loved that although finding Glyndwr was the most important thing to the boys, they still had to make time to study for school and go to classes. I am extremely excited to continue this series and can not wait to get my hands on The Dream Thieves!

Review on The Outliers

When Wylie's best friend, Cassie goes missing, she is determined to find out where she is and bring her back home. With the help of Cassie's boyfriend Jasper, Wylie must follow the clues of Cassie's whereabouts via a series of texts. However, there is more to Cassie's disappearance than meets the eye, and Wylie soon learns that not everyone can be trusted.

The story follows Wylie, a teenager who suffers from anxiety and recently lost her mum due to a car crash. I loved how perfectly Wylie's anxiety was portrayed. I feel as if anxiety is often seen as a quirk rather than a mental illness, so I loved that that was not the case with this book, and we got a good insight to how anxiety affects Wylie's every day life. However, I felt as if more attention could have been put into her being agoraphobic, as I felt as if she was able to leave the house a little too easily, and her anxiety about being in public spaces seemed to quickly disappear.

I felt as if the first quarter of the novel was a little slow, and it didn't really start to pick up until Wylie and Jasper started driving towards where Cassie was telling them to go via text messages. Jasper was by far my favourite character, and I loved how Wylie's first impression of him was completely wrong. Although Wylie initially sees Jasper as a typical high school jock, her feelings towards him change once she realises how much Jasper truly cares about Cassie and how he was trying to talk her out of drinking too much. Jasper is an extremely sweet and caring character, and I felt bad for him, as so many horrible things had happened to him.

Once I had got through the first quarter of the book, it became the action packed thriller I had been hoping it would be and I couldn't put it down! The action packed sequences and plot twists just kept on coming, and although I figured out a couple of plot points before they were revealed, there were still plenty of surprises. I also loved that romance was kept to a minimum, as I'm never a huge fan of romance being a main plot point in this book genre. Although I feel as if a romance developing between Wylie and Jasper at some point is inevitable,  I hope that it will not be too big of a plot point in future books.

The one criticism I do have about this book is that everything seemed a little too unbelievable. I felt as if Wylie and Jasper needed an adult character who genuinely wanted to help them and wasn't going to betray them, as I ended up not trusting any of the new characters that they came across, and with good reason.  I also found that the man allowing Wylie and Jasper to take his truck was both too convenient and too far fetched, as it is extremely unlikely that a stranger would let two teenagers take their truck.

I had a hard time placing this book into a genre, as although the majority of the book fits into the mystery/thriller category, the last quarter of the book included Sci-Fi elements. I found the Outliers storyline a little confusing and felt that it needed a better explanation as to why so many people were after Wylie's dads research, and who North Point were.

I can not believe that this book ended on a cliff hanger! It has definitely made me excited to read the sequel, and I have no idea how I'm going to be able to wait so long for it to come out!  I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fast paced thriller with plenty of plot twists.