Audiobook Review: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Shut Out

Series: None
Length: 7 hours, 19 minutes
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Release date: 5th June 2014
Buy: Book Depository | Audible

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Goodreads synopsis:

The girls of Hamilton High School are going on strike.

Sick of the rivalry between their boyfriends' American football and soccer teams, Lissa and her friends are determined that the boys won't see any action from them until they put an end to their immature pranks.

But Lissa hasn't counted on a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first ...

I read this one as an audiobook, and I actually think I ended up enjoying the story more because of this. Kate Reinders did a fantastic job of narrating this story – she was expressive and emotive, and despite her high pitched voice, I could tell when she was reading the dialogue of male characters. The performance was enjoyable and I whizzed through the 7 hour, 20 minute audiobook so fast! (Well, in 7 hours and 20 minutes, obviously, but it didn't feel that long!)

Review: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece

Series: None
Pages: 226
Publisher: Orion
Release date: 1st March 2011
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK

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Goodreads synopsis:

Ten-year-old Jamie Matthews has just moved to the Lake District with his Dad and his teenage sister, Jasmine for a 'Fresh New Start'. Five years ago his sister's twin, Rose, was blown up by a terrorist bomb. His parents are wrecked by their grief, Jasmine turns to piercing, pink hair and stops eating. The family falls apart. But Jamie hasn't cried in all that time. To him Rose is just a distant memory. Jamie is far more interested in his cat, Roger, his birthday Spiderman T-shirt, and in keeping his new friend Sunya a secret from his dad. And in his deep longing and unshakeable belief that his Mum will come back to the family she walked out on months ago. When he sees a TV advert for a talent show, he feels certain that this will change everything and bring them all back together once and for all.

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece is told from the perspective of ten-year-old Jamie, whose older sister Rose was killed in a set of terrorist bombings in London five years previously, and whose ashes now sit in a golden urn on the mantelpiece.
It's the story of life after loss, family and friendship despite differences. It's a coming-of-age story with some seriously dark and deeply sad foundations.
Despite the heaviness of the topics it discusses, however, the book feels almost hopeful. It's set in Ambleside in the Lake District (coincidentally one of my favourite places on the planet) and begins when Jamie is about to start a new school, far from the London home he grew up in.

Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys

Series: Raven Boys #1
Pages: 454
Publisher: Scholastic (UK)
Release date: 19th September 2012
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK

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Goodreads synopsis:

Even if Blue hadn't been told her true love would die if she kissed him, she would stay away from boys. Especially the ones from the local private school. Known as Raven Boys, they only mean trouble.

But this is the year that everything will change for Blue.

This is the year that she will be drawn into the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys. And the year Blue will discover that magic does exist.

This is the year she will fall in love.

The Raven Boys is one that I've been wanting to pick up for several years now, but for some reason it never made it to the top of the list. I started reading it at long last because I would be meeting Maggie at YALC and I wanted to have read some of her stuff before meeting her (she's lovely, by the way. If you have the chance to meet her, go do it!). That and I've had friends constantly telling me how much I would love her writing.
I was only a couple of chapters in when I could see just how right my friends were – I could tell early on that I was going to adore the Raven Boys!

Review: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Series: Truthwitch #1
Pages: 415
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release date: 5th January 2016
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK

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Goodreads synopsis:

In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.

Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her—but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.

Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

This book was one of those rare times that I was ridiculously excited to read it, despite having never picked up a book by this author before. It was the kind of excitement reserved for Neil Gaiman, Sarah J Maas, Matt Haig and David Levithan.
It was a kind of excitement that perhaps gave this book shoes that were just a little too big for it to fill. Expectations and hype are dangerous things, and unfortunately, I don't think they gave Truthwitch much of a chance.

Review: The Next Together by Lauren James

The Next Together

Series: The Next Together #1
Pages: 356
Publisher: Walker Books
Release date: 3rd September 2015
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK

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Goodreads synopsis:

How many times can you lose the person you love?

Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again, century after century. Each time, their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.

Spanning the Crimean War, the Siege of Carlisle and the near-future of 2019 and 2039 they find themselves sacrificing their lives to save the world. But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace?

Maybe the next together will be different...

A powerful and epic debut novel for teenagers about time-travel, fate and the timelessness of first love. The Next Together is told through a mixture of regular prose, diary entries, letters, "original" historical documents, news reports and internet articles.

The Next Together is marketed as a sort of time-travel romance, but I’m not 100% sure if that’s entirely accurate. It is a romance, I suppose, in that there is a relationship between the two main characters, Matthew and Katherine, but I wouldn’t say that it’s the main focus of the book. Not really.
The relationship between the two characters seems to be a catalyst for other events throughout history. Each time the characters come together – be it in the 18th Century, or the 21st – they affect the events around them. The story seems to be more about what’s happening around the characters than about the relationship itself, especially as we know that the relationship will happen in one way or another each time they appear together in history.

The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett **Audiobook Review**

The Painted Man
(The Warded Man, US)

Series: The Demon Cycle #1
Pages: 544
Publisher: Voyager
Release date: 1st April 2009
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK           Audible UK

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Goodreads synopsis:

As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise—demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards—symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile. It was not always this way. Once, men and women battled the corelings on equal terms, but those days are gone. Night by night the demons grow stronger, while human numbers dwindle under their relentless assault. Now, with hope for the future fading, three young survivors of vicious demon attacks will dare the impossible, stepping beyond the crumbling safety of the wards to risk everything in a desperate quest to regain the secrets of the past. Together, they will stand against the night.

I read this as an audiobook, narrated by Colin Mace. I've only recently started getting into audiobooks, and this is actually only the second novel I've listened to in that format (the others being non-fiction titles such as 'Fry's English Delight' and the like). I didn't think I would be able to immerse myself in the story properly if I was to listen to it rather than read it, but I've found that not to be the case – especially with The Painted Man (also known as The Warded Man).

You Know Me Well by David Levithan and Nina LaCour **Review**

You Know Me Well

Series: None
Pages: 256
Publisher: Macmillan Children's
Release date: 2nd June 2016
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK

Add to Goodreads
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy of this book

Goodreads synopsis:

Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really?

Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.

That is until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.

When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other -- and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.

Told in alternating points of view by Nina LaCour and David Levithan, the best-selling author of Every Day and co-author of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn) and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green), You Know Me Well is a deeply honest story about navigating the joys and heartaches of first love, one truth at a time.

Although this wasn't my favourite David Levithan collaboration novel, I still really enjoyed it, and I loved the fresh angle that Nina LaCour gave it.
At the very beginning of the book, I was convinced that this was going to be quite similar to the 'David and Rachel' books – boy meets girl at an evening event and they have a one-night adventure where, despite their differences, they begin to fall for one another. But no, this was not that. For one, the boy meets girl had a different purpose – Kate and Mark quickly become friends in order to help the other overcome their separate relationship woes. And another thing? Both of them are gay. That's right – a lesbian in a David Levithan novel! Thank you, Nina! This is a rare occurrence for David Levithan, his books mostly being about gay boys (not that I don’t love David, because I really do!).

The Problem With Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout **Review**

The Problem With Forever

Series: None
Pages: 384
Publisher: MIRA Ink
Release date: 1st June 2016
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK

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Thanks to the publisher for my review copy of this book.

Goodreads synopsis:

From #1 NY Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes a deeply powerful and emotional story about struggling to overcome your past and find where you belong.

When Mallory was a kid, she was bounced from one horrible foster home to another. At thirteen, a terrible accident got her removed from the group home where she was living to a hospital where she met the parents who would adopt her. But when she starts a new school and encounters an old friend from the foster system sparks start to fly.

I went into The Problem with Forever knowing very little about it. I often quite like to do this – it means that even any details revealed in the synopsis are a surprise, and often that’s a good thing. All I knew about this book was that it’s a contemporary YA about a girl who was in foster care. I possibly knew a little more than that when I first requested it, but that was all I could remember when I did eventually start reading.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon **Review**

The Bone Season

Series: The Bone Season #1
Pages: 452
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release date: 20th August 2013
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK

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Goodreads synopsis:

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people’s minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.

It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.

The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine and also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut.

My initial reaction to The Bone Season was definitely one of excitement. I knew it was mostly set in Oxford (albeit an alternative, future version of Oxford), and this being a city I both love and know fairly well, I was looking forward to seeing how it would be adapted for a fantasy novel. I was also quite excited by the idea of different kinds of clairvoyants, or voyants for short. Add to that that the main character was obviously in constant danger just for being what she is ... I was expecting to be immediately hooked. And I was. The beginning was instantly engaging. Straight away you learn so much about Paige, her abilities and how she puts them to use in the criminal underground of Central London, now known as Cohort I. The opening chapters are full of action, and it was fairly easy to get to grips with the world and its inhabitants.

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern **Review**

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Series: Flawed #1
Pages: 400
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Release date: 24th March 2016
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK

Add to Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy of the book.

Goodreads synopsis:

The stunning YA debut from internationally bestselling author Cecelia Ahern.

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation in which she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.

In this stunning novel, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society in which perfection is paramount and mistakes are punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.

I first read Cecelia Ahern when I was about 17, starting off with A Place Called Here, a book that I really loved. Despite that, though, I haven't really read too many of her books, mostly because I rarely read the kind of books she writes. But when I heard she was publisher her first YA novel, my interest was immediately piqued, and I knew I had to read it. Her style was always easy to get on with when I did read anything of hers, so I expected it to be similar with Flawed. If anything, I think Flawed was even easier to get on with than her adult books, and I was drawn into the story almost immediately.
But it wasn't until things started to go seriously wrong that I became totally engrossed.

Wishlist Wednesday #216

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

So what do you need to do to join in?

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
• Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of this post.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://www.pentopaperblog.com) somewhere in your post, and a note saying that Pen to Paper is the host of the meme.
• Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
by Dubravka Ugrešić
Goodreads

Synopsis:

Baba Yaga is an old hag who lives in a house built on chicken legs and kidnaps small children. She is one of the most pervasive and powerful creatures in all mythology. But what does she have to do with a writer's journey to Bulgaria in 2007 on behalf of her mother? Or with a trio of old women who decide to spend a week together at a hotel spa? Startlingly original, "Baba Yaga Laid an Egg" takes a traditional myth and spins it afresh. The result is an extraordinary meditation on femininity, ageing, identity, secrets, storytelling and love.

In the space of just a couple of weeks, I've gone from having never heard much at all about Baba Yaga to having seen it everywhere. It started when I was watching some comic book recommendations on YouTube and I think about three different YouTubers mentioned Baba Yaga's Assistant (with mixed reviews).
All I really know from watching these videos is that Baba Yaga was a Slavic folklore character with some sort of supernatural presence, and she would either help or harm those who looked for her. Since I watched those videos, she keeps popping up everywhere, and then I'm in one of my local bookshops, looking for something entirely different, and I stumble on this book.
This takes the Baba Yaga figure and puts her in several different forms and tells her story based on what form she takes. This has me really intrigued, and I would have it on my shelf already, but the bookshop's copy was damaged, so I will be keeping an eye out for it on my trip to London in a week and a half.

What's on your wishlist this week? Let us know in the comments below, or link to your own Wishlist Wednesday post in the Linky :) 

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Wishlist Wednesday #215

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

So what do you need to do to join in?

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
• Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of this post.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://www.pentopaperblog.com) somewhere in your post, and a note saying that Pen to Paper is the host of the meme.
• Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

Giant Days Volume 1
by John Allison & Lissa Treiman
Goodreads

Synopsis:

Susan, Esther, and Daisy started at university three weeks ago and became fast friends. Now, away from home for the first time, all three want to reinvent themselves. But in the face of handwringing boys, “personal experimentation,” influenza, mystery mold, nuchauvinism, and the willful, unwanted intrusion of “academia,” they may be lucky just to make it to spring alive. Collects issues #1-4.

I haven't picked a graphic novel for my Wishlist Wednesday for a little while, so I thought I would today, especially as I seem to have added so many of them to the Wishlist recently.
Giant Days is one that I've actually looked at a couple of times in Forbidden Planet, but decided not to pick up in favour of other comics. However, I've been watching some YouTube comic book reviews this past week and Giant Days has been mentioned quite a lot in these videos. Everyone has been saying how great the story is, and it has me intrigued enough to make sure that on my next visit to the comic shop, this is a priority pick!
As I'm taking my brother comic shopping at the weekend for his birthday, it won't be that long until this is on my shelves, awaiting my attention.


What's on your wishlist this week? Let us know in the comments below, or link to your own Wishlist Wednesday post in the Linky :) 

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Wishlist Wednesday #214

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

So what do you need to do to join in?

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
• Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of this post.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://www.pentopaperblog.com) somewhere in your post, and a note saying that Pen to Paper is the host of the meme.
• Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

We Are the Ants
by Shaun David Hutchinson

Synopsis:

Henry Denton doesn’t know why the aliens chose to abduct him when he was thirteen, and he doesn’t know why they continue to steal him from his bed and take him aboard their ship. He doesn’t know why the world is going to end or why the aliens have offered him the opportunity to avert the impending disaster by pressing a big red button.

But they have. And they’ve only given him 144 days to make up his mind.

Since the suicide of his boyfriend, Jesse, Henry has been adrift. He’s become estranged from his best friend, started hooking up with his sworn enemy, and his family is oblivious to everything that’s going on around them. As far as Henry is concerned, a world without Jesse is a world he isn’t sure is worth saving. Until he meets Diego Vega, an artist with a secret past who forces Henry to question his beliefs, his place in the universe, and whether any of it really matters. But before Henry can save the world, he’s got to figure out how to save himself, and the aliens haven’t given him a button for that.

This was released in the US yesterday, and I'm SO excited about it. I discovered it at the weekend, and now I'm desperate to get my hands on a copy. It already has a great rating on Goodreads, and I can see why. I think this story has the potential to be funny in places, but also life-affirming and thought-provoking. I'm also really enjoying that it has a gay main character, but without making that a central theme of the plot (in other words, having a gay main character is normal and something we don't need to make into a discussion point).
This sounds like quite a unique book and I know it won't be long until I get this off the Wishlist and onto the TBR.


What's on your wishlist this week? Let us know in the comments below, or link to your own Wishlist Wednesday post in the Linky :) 

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Wishlist Wednesday #213

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

So what do you need to do to join in?

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
• Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of this post.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://www.pentopaperblog.com) somewhere in your post, and a note saying that Pen to Paper is the host of the meme.
• Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

The Martian
by Andy Weir

Synopsis:

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars's surface, with no way to signal Earth that he's alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, Mark won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

Armed with nothing but his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength--Mark embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Obviously the first time I heard about this book was a long, long while ago – especially with the film having been released last year, it would be hard to miss it. It's lingered on my wishlist for a while, but I've been unsure until the past couple of weeks, when it started appearing on EVERYONE'S favourite books of 2015 lists. I don't think I've watched a single Favourites video on YouTube or seen a Favourites post on blogs without this book being mentioned somewhere. And everyone is not only saying that it's a fantastic read, but that it's also surprisingly funny, which I have to say has warmed me up to the idea of this book a lot more! Therefore, this book will probably make its way onto my shelves in the very near future.


What's on your wishlist this week? Let us know in the comments below, or link to your own Wishlist Wednesday post in the Linky :) 

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The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken **Review**

The Darkest Minds

Series: Darkest Minds #1
Pages: 488
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release date: 18th December 2012

Buy with free worldwide delivery
Add to Goodreads

Goodreads synopsis:

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that had killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they could not control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. She is on the run, desperate to find the only safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who have escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents. When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at having a life worth living.

I got the third and final book in this trilogy for Christmas, so I figured it was about time that I started reading the first book, and I'm so glad that this was my first book of the year. 

The Darkest Minds was incredibly easy to get into. I read the first 40 pages without even blinking (okay, maybe I did blink, but it felt like I didn't), and before I knew it, I was totally addicted to the world and its characters. The story is set up really well at the beginning, to the point where I wasn't ever really confused about what was going on; there was just enough information that I had a good grasp of what had happened to the country and how it looked now, after disaster had struck. 

Wishlist Wednesday #212

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

So what do you need to do to join in?

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
• Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of this post.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://www.pentopaperblog.com) somewhere in your post, and a note saying that Pen to Paper is the host of the meme.
• Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

More Happy Than Not
by Adam Silvera

Synopsis:

In his twisty, gritty, profoundly moving debut—called “mandatory reading” by the New York Times—Adam Silvera brings to life a charged, dangerous near-future summer in the Bronx.

In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again--but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can't stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.

Why does happiness have to be so hard?

This one has been popping up a lot on BookTube recently, and I have to say it has me very intrigued, especially as the average Goodreads rating on this book is currently at 4.11 stars, which is incredibly rare. And from what I've heard so far, this rating is definitely earned. It's supposed to be a little bit heartbreaking and totally gripping, so it won't be long before this one comes off the wishlist and onto my bookshelves. I'm really intrigued by the plot, especially the idea of memory-alteration, and why he would even consider that. And the scar – what happened to give him that scar?
I will definitely be finding out soon!


What's on your wishlist this week? Let us know in the comments below, or link to your own Wishlist Wednesday post in the Linky :) 

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My Favourite Books of 2015

Whenever the New Year comes around, I always set myself a reading goal of 52 books in the year on the Goodreads Reading Challenge. 2015 proved an excellent year for beating this challenge. I read a total of 63 books and over 20,000 pages in the year, and I discovered a whole load of new favourites too!
And now the time has come to reset the reading challenge for a new year, and to choose my favourite reads of the past 12 months. Choosing just ten favourites out of 63 potentials has been a particularly difficult task this year, and these are not really in any particular order, apart from, perhaps, the first three in the list, which really did stand out above all the rest.
But without further delay, here are my favourite reads of 2015!

Wishlist Wednesday #211

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

So what do you need to do to join in?

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
• Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of this post.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://www.pentopaperblog.com) somewhere in your post, and a note saying that Pen to Paper is the host of the meme.
• Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

A Gathering of Shadows [A Darker Shade of Magic #2]
by V. E. Schwab

Synopsis:

Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.

In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games—an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries—a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again—meaning that another London must fall.

I read A Darker Shade of Magic while on holiday in Amsterdam in July, and although I thought it was a little slow-going, by the time I finished it I was completely engrossed in the world and was left desperate to know what happens next! According to Goodreads, we only have to wait until February to find out, so I'm especially excited for the new year. I just hope that A Gathering of Shadows has a quicker pace than the first book.


What's on your wishlist this week? Let us know in the comments below, or link to your own Wishlist Wednesday post in the Linky :) 

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