Browsed by
Category: 3 stars

Hades by Alexandra Adornetto

Hades by Alexandra Adornetto

I don’t even know where to start with this review. I don’t even know how to write this review without spoiling anything because I’ve just finished reading this so my brain is full of what I’ve just read. So I’m sorry if a few things don’t make sense but this book is so hard to review without any spoilers.

Hades is the second book in the Halo trilogy and thank God *excuse the pun* that this was slightly better.

Is love a great enough power against evil? Bethany believes so – after all, the love of her angel siblings and her boyfriend Xavier saved her from the clutches of Hell itself.

But when Jake returns to town, he may be able to destroy everything she cares about.

Will Jake’s actions shatter Beth’s faith in love? Or can she overcome heartache and betrayal to find her way back to Xavier?

Ok first of all, yes this book is better than Halo – but not by much.

The main plot in this book is much darker than the first installment in the series and I found the darker approach much better (well, I say darker but nothing bad really happens to Bethany – again.) This is one of the things that I find so frustrating with the series. When evil comes along to try and ruin Beth’s life, nothing bad happens to her. She might get a few scratches here and there and be threatened, but nothing bad is ever done to her and it’s annoying.

There was also some terrible writing in this book. Absolutely terrible. How Adornetto ever got away with it, I have no idea. I actually noted down some of the rubbish writing so I could share it with you guys. So here you, a few amazingly awful quotes from Hades:

– “Little did we know they would find us before we had a chance to find them.” 
If you follow me on Goodreads, you will know that I had a little rant about this sentence. After I read this, I noticed how much unneeded foreshadowing Adornetto did. What’s the point in telling us that bad stuff is going to happen before it does? Why not leave out the in-your-face foreshadowing and give us a bit of a shock?

 


 – “I wanted them to know that Taylah was out there still, only now she was free. I wanted to tell them about Heaven and the peace she would find there. But of course, sharing any of that knowledge was impossible. Not only would I be breaking our most secret code and exposing our presence on Earth…”
SHE HAS ALREADY TOLD XAVIER WHAT SHE IS! SHE HAS ALREADY BROKEN THE “MOST SECRET CODE’. What a huge contradiction on Adornetto’s part. This is terrible. And Bethany stupid.

– “Are you okay, Huggie Bear?’ I asked, protectively reaching up to fix his hair.”
Beth just called Xavier “Huggie Bear”. What. What writer even does that? I mean, I’ve heard of ridiculous nicknames for your other half but ‘Huggie Bear’? That should be made illegal. *shudders* Just no.

– “When Big Daddy fell from grace…”
Yup. Lucifer is called ‘Big Daddy’ in this by his followers. I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S WORSE, HUGGIE BEAR OR BIG DADDY! And the description of Lucifer (there’s no way I’m calling him Big Daddy) is all wrong, but I’m not even going to go into that because we’d be here all day.

 

As you can see, I came across some appalling writing and ideas in this book. HOWEVER! Even though nothing bad happened to Bethany (not really, anyway. A few minor incidents here and there, but still…) I found the story much more gripping than Halo.

My favourite part of this book was an exorcism scene. It’s like it was ripped right from the pages of a Supernatural script. Adornetto’s writing during this scene surpassed anything I had read during the series and blew my mind. It was fantastic. The way she described the demon possession, the surroundings of the building and how the creature moved was breathtaking and it’s a scene that I will always remember for being brilliant. I don’t know why Adornetto couldn’t keep writing like this.

I can’t say much else about this book without revealing what happens but just know this: even though there is some terrible writing, Adornetto has got a good story going here, she’s got some really good ideas and the darkness of the book worked so much better than Halo. Yes, there was still Bethany and Xavier confessing their undying love for each other all of the time (shut up, already – no one cares), and the ending was absolutely ridiculous but this book was definitely better than Halo

Now onto the third and final book… Heaven. Fingers crossed that I don’t drive myself mad reading it.

 

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf


To The Lighthouse was the second book that I read for my university course. There was something about reading this classic that was very daunting. Woolf is known as a literary genius, as an author that has inspired people, an author that has written books with loads of meaning.

If you read my review of Great Expectations, you will know that I am not a regular reader of classic literature. In fact, I barely read it. Maybe that’s what was so daunting about reading To The Lighthouse…

The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women.

 I wasn’t in a good mindset when I started this book and for the first seven chapters, I found it dull and confusing. I kept putting it down and picking it back up again to the point where I reached a reading slump. I didn’t read for two weeks (which is a mega long time for me!)

 It got to that point where I said to myself: ‘Kirsty, you HAVE to read this for uni, so pick yourself up, get the book and binge-read it.’ And that’s exactly what I did. I started from the beginning again and finished reading it at five past one in the morning. 

 After I put the book down, my first thought was “what a load of rubbish!”. But after sitting on it for a few days and properly thinking about the novel, I understand Woolf’s style of writing more and what she meant to convey through this book.

“What is the meaning of life? That was all – a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation that had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.”
– Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse



 Throughout To The Lighthouse, Woolf wants to portray to the reader the roles of men and women in that time. Through the character of Mrs. Ramsey, we are shown that women had to entertain, look after the children and smile no matter what. Mr. Ramsey was used to show us that men were the breadwinners, they were intelligent and were allowed to be moody because they were in deep thought the whole time pondering the ways of life *slight sarcasm on my end maybe?*

 Another theme that Woolf wants to show the reader is the theme of time and how quickly it can pass us by and the damage that it can do.

 Thinking of these two themes, I can see why the book would be very enjoyable to those who are avid classics readers, but for me, I found this book very hard and confusing to read. Woolf writes very very very long sentences. I think there’s a point in the book where half a page is just one sentence. She also writes as a flow of conscience, so she skips from character to character and the reader has to figure out which character point of view she’s writing from.

 If you’re like me and hardly read classic literature, I suggest that you have Sparknotes at the ready – just in case you don’t understand what’s going on.

 Overall, I can understand why people love this book as it talks about the stereotypical gender roles and Woolf is an amazing writer, she describes in huge detail so that you can paint a picture of the book in your head perfectly. However, the way she writes in long sentences and the flow of consciousness isn’t for me. I know that I will have to read this book again and again since I am studying it at university, but I hope that whilst I am dissecting the book in class, I grow to like this book. If I wasn’t studying it, To The Lighthouse isn’t a book that I would read again.


Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

I walked into Waterstones one day and all I could see were copies of this book piled everywhere. I must have picked up the book about ten times, read the blurb and put it back down. It sounded good – it really did – but I don’t like reading about upper-class characters. They just annoy me.

 As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve.

But Ani has a secret.



There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.

The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for—or, will it at long last, set Ani free?

 This book infuriated, moved, bored and captured me all at the same time – how that is possible, I will never know.

 The character of TifAni FaNelli – or Ani, as she is known throughout the book – is a stuck-up snob that I absolutely hated. (Oh, and her name is pronounced Ahhh-neeee) She seriously got on my every last nerve and I was seriously tempted to not even finish the book, but I decided to carry on because I wanted to know what this big secret of hers was.

 Luckiest Girl Alive is told from two different timelines. You have the present-day timeline where Ani is going through the motions of planning her lavish wedding and also filming a documentary about ‘that disaster’. Then, you have the timeline where she’s TifAni – her younger self (14 years old) and you see slowly over the course of the book Knoll building up the outrageous things that happen to TifAni whilst she’s at that younger age. 

“Moving on doesn’t mean you don’t talk about it. Or hurt about it. It’s always going to hurt.”
– Jessica Knoll, Luckiest Girl Alive
 
 


 You could argue that the things that she goes through whilst she’s younger make her this cold-hearted, world-hating woman. However, because she’s this cold character for nearly all of the book, I couldn’t bring myself to connect with her so when I found out what happened to her when she was younger, sure I felt slight sympathy, I felt angry that she had to go through that but I wasn’t deeply moved. 

 (It sounds really bad and I feel horrible for even saying that I hardly felt sympathy for her but I hated the character that much!)

 I preferred the younger timeline because it was really nice to see Ani when she was young. Knoll also showed the side of high school that everyone fears: the cliques, the popular girls, the bullies, the peer pressure, the humiliation. TifAni went through things that no child should ever have to go through at school or in life in general. The moment that moved me the most was the ‘shorts incident’. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know what I’m on about. I felt horrified, I felt mortified for her and I just wanted to give her hug.

 The things that frustrated me the most about this book was Ani’s mother (OH MY LIFE! SHE WAS A MONSTER!) and the ending: WHAT HAPPENED TO ANDREW?!

 This book did have a lot of suspense throughout, otherwise I wouldn’t have finished the book. I think having the younger timeline helped this book massively. If Luckiest Girl Alive didn’t hav14-year-old TifAni, then I would have given this book one star. 

 I do recommend this book purely for that younger narrative and even if you do hate the snobbiness of Ani, please stick it out because the secret that she has will shock you and leave your mouth hanging.


We Are All Made Of Molecules by Susin Nielsen

We Are All Made Of Molecules by Susin Nielsen



This book was one of my quick-buys when I went into Waterstones one day. It wasn’t on my TBR (to-be-read) list; I just saw it on the shelves, read the blurb and bought it. 

There are two sides to every story.
Stewart is geeky, gifted but socially clueless. His mom has died and he misses her every day.
Ashley is popular, cool but her grades stink. Her dad has come out and moved out – but not far enough.
Their worlds are about to collide: Stewart and his dad are moving in with Ashley and her mom. Stewart is 89.9% happy about it even as he struggles to fit in at his new school. But Ashley is 110% horrified and can’t get used to her totally awkward home. And things are about to become a whole lot more mixed up when they attract the wrong kind of attention…



I started and finished this book on my four-hour train journey from Aachen to Berlin. 

What I loved about this book was that it had the fresh, young voices of young teenagers. Stewart is 13 and Ashley is 14. Normally with teen fiction books, the main character is about 16/17.

What I didn’t like about this book was that they were 13 and 14. Feeling confused? Bear with me.

Using younger characters was a brilliant idea, it showed the transition from being a ‘child’ to a teenager and the troubles that come with that. Unfortunately, how the characters spoke on paper made them seem like they were about ten.

The character of Stewart is supposed to be gifted for his age, but sometimes he comes across and talks as though he’s a little boy. It’s the same with the character of Ashley. She’s 14; she should sound 14 – not ten.

“The next day, Mom made an appointment with the doctor. But it wasn’t a baby growing inside her. It was cancer.”
– Susin Nielsen, We Are All Made Of Molecules



I also hated the character of Ashley. You know those characters that you get that you love to hate? Ashley wasn’t one of them. I couldn’t stand her. She was moaning all of the time and complaining about her life like it was the worst thing in the world – granted most 13/14 year old complain most of the time that their life is horrible – and when I reading her chapters, I just wanted to get them over with.

The book got slightly better as it progressed; we learned a few things about some of the characters and there was some character development, but not an awful lot and the development that did happen was towards the end. I think the character that I like the most was Stewart. Even though he spoke like a five-year-old, he was still a very caring person and always tried to do the right thing no matter what.

 There are a few mature moments in this book like dealing with death, drinking and attempted rape (although with the latter is described in very little detail and is stopped before anything happens. It happens for about a few lines.)

 I would recommend this book but to those who do want to read it, keep an open mind that the two point of views are very childlike. It’s good, but it’s not a book that I would read again.
Warning: contains references to physical abuse. May trigger.