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Category: 5 stars

All The Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

All The Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

All The Truth That’s In Me is not a modern day, young adult contemporary novel. It’s a young adult, historical fiction novel that’s set in the 1800s and is an exceptionally written book. When I was reading the blurb, the thing that captured my attention was how the main character has had her tongue cut out, so she can’t talk. I thought that was horrifying. But it still made me want to read the book!

Judith can’t speak. Ever since the horrifying trauma that left her best friend dead and Judith without her tongue, she’s been a pariah in her close-knit community of Roswell Station; even her own mother won’t look her in the eye. All Judith can do is silently pour out her thoughts and feelings to the love of her life, the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember – even if he doesn’t know it – her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked by enemies, long-buried secrets come to light and Judith’s world starts to shift on its axis. 
 
This book was magnificent. It was just UGGGHHHHH THE FEELS! IT WAS SO GOOD AND IT MADE ME FEEL LIKE MY WHOLE BODY WAS BEING RIPPED APART BY THOSE FEELS!
 
I don’t even know where to start with this review. At first, I thought it was a bit odd. I didn’t know that it was a historical fiction book, so when I started reading descriptions of the town that didn’t sound modern day, I checked out the ever-so-handy Goodreads and realised it was set in the 1800s. Now everything made sense. 
 
All The Truth That’s In Me is written in letter form. The whole story is written like Judith is writing letters containing her story to her childhood crush – Lucas. For example: “I saw you look over to where I was standing and smile at me.” I think it’s a beautiful way for the story to be told. 
 
There was only one issue that I had with this book but it wasn’t a big enough issue to knock the star rating down to four. My issue was where Judith goes back to her kidnapper to get his help when her town is attacked… I know she’s getting his help because the town needs it, but still. There is no way I would be brave enough to go back to the place where I was held captive for two years and where my tongue was cut out. No way.
The rest of the book was just brilliant. It was a bit slow at first (maybe for the first 20 pages?) but after you get the attack by the enemies out of the way, the story starts to unravel and you start learning more and more about the characters and their secrets. 
 
 
 
“There is a curious comfort in letting go. After the agony, letting go brings numbness, and after the numbness, clarity. As if I can see the world for the first time, and my place in it, independent of you, a whole vista of what may be. Even if it is not grand or inspiring, it is real and solid, unlike the fantasy I’ve built around you. I will do this. I will triumph over you.”
– Julie Berry, All The Truth That’s In Me
 
 
 
There are a lot of shock moments in this book, there are a few disturbing moments and a few moments where I even had to put down the book and take everything that I had just read in. I literally had to put the book down and stare at my wall because the feels from the part I had just read were too much for me. 
 
All of the characters were written superbly that I genuinely felt I was part of their world, that I was going on this crazy ride with them. 
 
The ending of this book was just… ARRRGGGHHH IT WAS MAGNIFICENT. IT WAS A HUGE PLOT TWIST THAT I DIDN’T SEE COMING! IT WAS ALL SORTS OF MESSED UP! IT WAS CRAZY! BUT IT WAS AMAZING!
 
All The Truth That’s In Me gave me a massive book hangover and it left me wanting to read every single word that Julie Berry has ever wrote because her writing style is just so addictive and beautiful.
 
Go. Go and read this book now. Get it from the library, order it off Amazon, I don’t care. Just read this book. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
 
Warning: contains references to physical abuse
 
Affinity by Sarah Waters

Affinity by Sarah Waters

When I was given the list of books that I had to read for my English and Media course at university, I let out a groan. Whenever I think of study texts for anything, whether it was at school, college or university, I always think that they’re going to be boring.

I was proved wrong when I studied To Kill a Mockingbird at Secondary School, I was wrong when I also studied An Inspector Calls and The Woman in Black there. I was proved wrong when I studied The Time Machine in college (even though I was proved right when we were also given Hard Times by Charles Dickens!) and now I’m at university. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Great Expectations, I didn’t really enjoy To The Lighthouse and now Affinity by Sarah Waters.

Is this book going to go against the stereotypical texts of studying or not?

An upper-class woman recovering from a suicide attempt, Margaret Prior has begun visiting the women’s ward of Millbank prison, Victorian London’s grimmest jail, as part of her rehabilitative charity work. 

 Amongst Millbank’s murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by on apparently innocent inmate, the enigmatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Selina was imprisoned after a séance she was conducting went horribly awry, leaving an elderly matron dead and a young woman deeply disturbed. 

 Although initially skeptical of Selina’s gifts, Margaret is soon drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions

 When I read the blurb of this book, I had to admit, it sounded rather different than any university book that I was expecting. A feminist, gothic, Victorian-era book. Sounds pretty good right?

 It was.

 It really was.

 Although this book was slow to start off with, I found myself becoming hooked. I have never read about women’s jails (or gaols – as they are written in Affinity) before and I found the subject intriguing. 

“Your twisting is done — you have the last thread of my heart. I wonder: when the thread grows slack, will you feel it?”
– Sarah Waters, Affinity
 
 


 The whole premise of this book was fascinating: a ‘lady’ that has tried to commit suicide, women’s jails, spirit mediums and an LGBT theme. 

 Sarah Waters writes her characters with such depth that, when I was reading the parts of Margaret, I felt like I was actually her walking through Millbank jail, I felt like I was her when she would go and talk to Selina Dawes. I was sucked right into her world and couldn’t seem to find myself getting out of it. 

 That ending though?!!! The last 50 pages were probably one of the best sections of literature that I’ve ever read. (Not THE best, ONE of the best – nothing can ever beat To Kill a Mockingbird). I have no one to talk about this book with as no one that I know has read it. I need to rant and rave about what happened at the end because it was so darn good! When I finished the book, I think I was sat on my bed in disbelief for about an hour, trying to take everything in that I had just read. 

 Just wow.

 I cannot wait to study this book in more depth at university. I can’t wait to read more work by Sarah Waters. This book is a strong five out of five and I definitely recommend this book to everyone. I think this is a must-read book.


The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

I haven’t read a book by Holly Black since The Spiderwick Chronicles when I was about eleven; so when I found out that she did young adult fantasy/supernatural books, I knew right there and then that I had to read them. Holly Black had a way of writing The Spiderwick Chronicles that left me in awe.
Faeries make a re-appearance in Holly Black’s: The Darkest Part of the Forest.
 


Near the little town of Fairfold, in the darkest part of the forest, is a glass casket. Inside lies a sleeping faerie prince that none can rouse. He’s the most fascinating thing Hazel and her brother Ben have ever seen. They dream of waking him – but what happens when dreams come true?

In the darkest part of the forest, you must be careful what you wish for…
Let me start off by saying that this book was absolutely fantastic! It’s the first fantasy book that I’ve read in a long time because my time has seemed to be taken up my YA Contemporary, but this book just reminded me how much I love the fantasy genre and how magical it is – especially when it is written as beautifully as this.
At first, I didn’t care much for Hazel, she seemed like a very two-dimensional character. But as the story goes on and the plot develops, so do the characters. The character development is phenomenal. I went from not liking Hazel to absolutely worshipping her towards the end. And Ben! We see his struggles as a gay character throughout the book but you know what I love about this book? Everyone is accepting of the fact that he’s gay – there’s no name-calling, no teasing, just no bullying or hate in general and it’s a breath of fresh air to see a book that includes a gay character that is fully accepted within the society.
“We love until we do not. For us, love doesn’t fade gradually. It snaps like a branch bent too far.”
– Holly Black, The Darkest Part of the Forest
 
 
Also… I think I might have fallen in love with the horned boy… And Jack… Oops…
Both the main and the secondary characters in this book have all been given a lot of attention as well. The secondary characters are given as much depth as the main characters and we are told parts of every characters background in detail that makes the reader feel like they know this character, they know what they’ve been through, how they are feeling right now and what’s caused them to act how they do in the present day.
There are so many twists and turns throughout this book and a realisation that will leave your mouth hanging open in disbelief. There’s magic, there’s fighting, there’s faeries, there’s romance. There’s everything that you could possibly want from a book about the magical realms within a forest.
I can’t say any more about this book without revealing spoilers but all you have to know is that it’s beautifully written, it’s an amazing storyline, there’s plot twists galore and the main characters (and secondary characters) are amazingly written.
There we go. I think it’s 10000% obvious that I fully recommend this book to anyone. Go on, get it now and read it. And then tell me what you think!
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This book has become my heart and soul. I devoured it, loved it, wanted to immerse myself into it; Fangirl was a brilliant read.
Cath and Wren are identical twins and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they’re off to university and Wren’s decided she doesn’t want to be one-half of a pair anymore – she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It’s not so easy for Cath. She would rather bury herself in the fanfiction she writes where there’s romance far more intense than anythings she’s experienced in real life.
 
Now Cath has to decide whether she’s ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she’s realising that there’s more to learn about love than she ever thought possible…
 


After reading the blurb whilst I was in Waterstones, I was thinking to myself: ‘great, not another teen fiction book about romance.’ But, oh how wrong was I?
 
This book has some romance in – obviously. And the book portrays how it feels to have your first love, but Fangirl is so much more than that. What I loved the most about this book was the portrayal of going to university. Of having to pack up your things from home and move to a strange place with weird people. I could relate so much and it made me feel all nostalgic of when I first moved into my new flat at Staffordshire University.
 
It’s obvious that Cath suffers from social anxiety as she doesn’t leave her room for weeks and tried to live off protein bars and a tub of peanut butter – she’s too scared to find the cafeteria. Even though she attends all of her lessons, the thought of going through the whole ‘new school, new cafeteria, new cliques = time to sit on my own and not socialise because no one wants me.’ She also has major anxiety about the way she looks, she sees herself as the ugly twin, the one that no one will love and the one that everyone will find boring because she loves fanfiction so much.
 
 
 
“In new situations, all the trickiest rules are the ones nobody bothers to explain to you. (And the ones you can’t Google.)”
– Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl
 
 
 
I found Fangirl so much better than Eleanor & Park and Rowell’s style of writing seemed so much more concise in Fangirl. I found the characters to be more real (can we just talk about Reagan for about 100000 years please?!) and Cath was the most relatable character in the novel. Even though I can relate to Cath and Wren’s experiences of university, I’m more like Cath and that’s why I fell 100% in love with this book.
 
Even though Wren made me angry a few times with how oblivious she was to how bad her sister was coping with uni life, her character development towards the end of the book was extraordinary, it was so quick it nearly gave me whiplash. It wasn’t quick – however – in the sense that you had no idea what just happened, there is something that happens to Wren in the book and she suddenly realises she needs to change her ways.
 
There was also major character development for the Dad. I found him so cute and adorable and after the ‘thing’ that happens with Wren, he also figures it’s time for him to change his ways and start managing himself a bit better.
 
This book is a romance book, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a book about growing up, about finding your feet at university and about learning to do what you love. This book has become one of my favourites and is one that I would read over and over again. 
 
Fangirl is perfection.
 
 
Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Perks of Being a Wallflower is Stephen Chbosky’s debut book and boy, is it a fantastic one to start off your writing career.

It was released in 1999 but it’s only been in the last five years that it’s been recognised for the brilliant novel that it is.



Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.
This is the most beautiful coming of age story that I have ever read and no, that isn’t an exaggeration; I remember being captivated after reading Charlie’s first letter to his “friend”.



“I just want you to know that you’re very special… and the only reason I’m telling you is that I don’t know if anyone else ever has.”
– Stephen Chbosky, Perks of Being a Wallflower


The format in which Chbosky’s written this books is in that of letters, the story is told through them in which Charlie writes letters about his day over the course of him being fifteen and sixteen. It’s like reading a diary. Chbosky makes Charlie such an open, heart-endearing character that when you read him spilling his feelings out in the letters, you can’t help but want to wrap your arms around him and give him the biggest hug in the world.
It’s also written like a fifteen/sixteen-year-old would write as well. Chbosky doesn’t use any ‘fancy’ words or make the characters sound older than they are; the written style is short and simple sentences most of the time unless Charlie is practising his writing skills – then Chbosky slightly changes the writing style to suit Charlie’s.

I also loved how well-rounded the secondary characters were like Sam, Patrick, Mary Elizabeth, Bill and even Aunt Helen. It just showed how much of an incredible writer Chbosky is and how well-thought-out his characters were; I felt like I could connect with most of them on a personal level too which is one of the things that I love as an avid reader.

I recommend for everyone to read this book because this is a beautiful piece of literature that I’ve now read four times. I just can’t get enough!
Warning: contains references to physical/emotional abuse 


I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

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When I first read Jandy Nelson’s debut novel: The Sky is Everywhere back in 2010 when it came out, I was encapsulated by Nelson’s writing style and the characters that she creates. I’ll Give You The Sun is another magical novel from the mind of Jandy Nelson. A story that will bring you to tears and make you laugh, a story that has characters you will love until the end. …

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Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

I’ll be completely honest, I picked up this book because of its GORGEOUS cover. I know that you can’t tell from the picture, but the gold on the cover is gold foil, so it’s really shiny, and under the lights and Waterstones, it’s constantly shining and that’s what caught my attention. I AM SO GLAD that I picked this book up.

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Jessica Jones S1E8 AKA WWJD? Review

Jessica Jones S1E8 AKA WWJD? Review

This is the best episode of Jessica Jones so far. Nearly the whole of the seventh episode concentrates on Kilgrave (David Tennent) and Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) apart from showing a slice of Hogarth’s (Carrie-Anne Moss) drama with her ex-wife and Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor) being the go-to-person whenever Jessica is in trouble.  …

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