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Category: friendship

More Than This by Patrick Ness

More Than This by Patrick Ness

More Than This is the first book that I have ever read by Patrick Ness. And it certainly isn’t going to be the last. I was recommended by one of my best friends to read this last year and I finally decided to read it.

I was quite weary of reading this, as the blurb doesn’t give away much about the book, and I like having some inkling about what the book is about before I start reading – all I knew is that a boy dies and wakes up in an unknown place.

It does sound very interesting though, doesn’t it?

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The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Yes, I have just read this book. I know, I know… I’m very very late to The Raven Boys party. But I’m here now, I’ve read it and I can finally have an opinion on it.

I’ve read the Shiver trilogy by Maggie Steifvater and even though it wasn’t my favourite series, it was still good. I’ve been meaning to read the Raven Cycle for a very long time – and I do actually own them all… It’s just that I haven’t had time to read them because my TBR list is towering and threatens to fall and crush me.

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Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson



An eating disorder can ruin someone’s mentality, it can ruin their body, their life. It destroys everything. But that’s how the outsider’s see it. The person actually going through an eating disorder thinks the exact opposite and that’s what Wintergirls explores.

Wintergirls is the first book I have ever read that is solely focused on an eating disorder and the harsh reality of living with it, of not actually accepting the fact that you do have an eating disorder, of not seeing how beautiful you really are.


Cassie and Lia did everything together, including staying thin. But then Cassie died. Now the voice in Lia’s head is telling her to stay strong. Lose more. Weigh less.

Is she strong enough to fight it?

This is the first book that I have ever read by Laurie Halse Anderson and after having a taste of her writing style, I am in love. 

Wintergirls was gritty, it was dark and upsetting. But without it being those three things, the portrayal of anorexia throughout the book wouldn’t have been true. Anderson doesn’t sugar coat it, she doesn’t glorify it, she tells it how it is. We are constantly in the mind of Lia and we are constantly hearing her telling herself that she’s fat, ugly and stupid. 

It is deeply upsetting but it is an incredible story. It is a story of fighting life, of fighting those around you, of fighting your mental state and fighting until the end. 



“I believe that you’ve created a metaphorical universe in which you can express your darkest fears. In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves, and sometimes we do such a good job, we lose track of reality.”
– Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls
 
 


The story opens with Lia being told that her best friend, Cassie died. Throughout Wintergirls, Lia is constantly putting on a front about how she isn’t upset that Cassie is dead but secretly, she is seeing Cassie’s ghost everywhere she goes. 

We learn about their friendship and we are shown how parents can react in different ways to their child’s mental illness – it shows how to not support your children (Lia’s parents and step-mother were not supportive at all and it made me so so angry!)

I cannot stress enough how wonderful this book is. The writing, the characters, the ending… The ending made me cry, it made me close the book and reflect of what Lia went through, of what her parents went through. 

If you know someone who is suffering with an eating disorder but you don’t know how to deal with it, read this book. It is so eye-opening. 

Wintergirls made me uncomfortable, very uncomfortable but Anderson wanted it to make you feel like that, she wants us to know the horrible truth of what some boys, girls, men and women go through. It is a brilliant book to read.

Warning: contains triggers for eating disorders, depression, anxiety and self harm



Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

IT’S THE LAST BOOK IN THE MISS PEREGRINE SERIES! I loved the first and second book and I was so eager to finish the series so that I could find out what happens (but at the same time, I didn’t want to series to end because I love this world so so much!)

But… alas, I had to start the third book and find out what happens to my dearly beloved, peculiar characters…

As the story opens, sixteen-year-old Jacob discoers a new ability, and soon he’s diving through history to rescue his peculiar companiions from a heavily guarded fortress. Accompanying Jacob on his journey are Emma Bloom, a girl with fire at her fingertips, and Addison MacHenry, a dog with a nose for sniffing out lost children.

They’ll travel from modern-day London to the labyrinthine alleys of Devil’s Acre, the most wretched slum in all of Victorian England. It’s a place where the fate of peculiar children everywhere will be decided once and for all.

I would have loved to have given this book five stars like I did with Hollow City, but the most important thing about a series let this one down: it’s ending. It just didn’t feel right at all. It felt wrong to have that happen and I just felt a bit deflated once I had closed the book.

As much as I hate finishing a book on a cliffhanger or an ending that is filled with feels, it makes me feel something, it makes me sit there and think about the entirety of the book. With Library of Souls, everything was wrapped up nicely in sparkly wrapping paper with a big bow on top of it. It’s so hard moaning about the ending without giving away spoilers but let me just say this: Riggs could have ended the series a little bit better. That’s not to say that ending was awful and the worst thing I’ve ever read: it wasn’t. It was still slightly satisfying and wrapped everything up nicely but I just feel like it could have been done slightly better.

 “It had become one of the defining truths about my life that, no matter how I tried to keep them flattened, two-dimensional, jailed in paper and ink, there would always be stories that refused to stay bound since books. It was never just a story.”
– Ransom Riggs, Library of Souls
 
 

Apart from the ending however, the rest of the book was absolutely brilliant. We got a lot of character development, there was still that stupid, weird romance between Emma and Jacob (I just ignore it), there was loads of exciting action, plot twists which left me shocked, heartbroken and nearly crying.

This was a roller coaster of a read and I’m gutted that the series has ended. It’s one of the best series – if not the best – that I have ever read and I’m so sad to leave the peculiar world behind. I fell in love with all of the characters and just arrggghhhhh noooooo… Please don’t make me leave this world. I love it too much. Can it just be real…? I need the Tales of the Peculiar in my life. In fact, I’m going to go into my local bookstore right now and buy it because it’s the only thing I have left of the world of the peculiars. RANSOM RIGGS, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!

 


I don’t even know what else to say about this book. If my fangirling and crying hasn’t proven how good this whole series is, then I don’t know how else to get you to GO AND BUY THE SERIES! RIGHT NOW… This is definitely a series that I will be re-reading over and over and over and over and over and over…

… and over and over and over…

You get the idea. So go and buy all three books, marathon them and then join me in my hysterical crying.


Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

I started this book the second I finished Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. I decided that I was in the mood to marathon this series and once I finished this one (I finished it in 5 hours), I started the third one.

That’s how good these books are, and Hollow City – which is the second book in the Miss Peregrine series – was even better than the first one. There was still the stupid romance between Emma and Jacob but I looked past it and concentrated on the actual storyline.

 September 3, 1940. Ten peculiar children flee an army of deadly monsters. And only one person can help them – but she’s trapped in the body of a bird.

The journey continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. There, they hope to find a cure for their beloved headmistress, Miss Peregrine. But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. And before Jacob can deliver the peculiar children to safety, he must make an important decision about his love for Emma Bloom.

You know why this book was so much better than the first one? Because there was so much character development, there was much more action and it was mostly set in 1940 London where we got to experience the war alongside the characters. What you’ve got to remember is that the peculiar children have been living in the time loop of 3rd September 1940 and at the time where their day restarts, is moments before their home gets bombed – so the children never get to experience the war first hand, and they think it’s all make-believe. Well now, they have to dodge the dropping bombs and hide from planes flying over their heads. It made it so much more exciting (I know the war isn’t supposed to be exciting, it was horrifying, but in this case being set against the backdrop of World War II added tension and fear).

 “Through a bombed cemetery, long-forgotten Londoners unearthed and flung into trees, grinning in rotted formal wear. A curlicued swing set in a cratered playground. The horrors piled up, incomprehensible, the bombers now and then dropping flares to light it all with the pure, shining white of a thousand camera flashed. As if to say: Look. Look what we made.”
– Ransom Riggs, Hollow City
 
 
 

Again in this book, Riggs included never-seen-before photographs to coincide with his plot and as I said in my review for the first book, the photos aren’t creepy (apart from the odd few) but they add a whole new dimension to the story. The story feels more real, it feels like it isn’t just fiction, you feel like you know the characters just by looking at the photographs that look similar to what Riggs is describing.

 

Also, just ignore the relationship between Emma and Jacob and everything will be fine…

The ending as well was brilliantly written and when I finished Hollow City at quarter to 12 at night, I didn’t want to wait until the morning to start reading Library of Souls. But I had to… So I waited. And that night, I dreamt I was walking alongside the peculiars and Miss Peregrine. It was such a good book which lead to an amazing dream. I thoroughly recommend everyone to read this series.

 

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

If you’re expecting a scary or spooky book, you’re going to be disappointed. This book is not scary so go into the book knowing that it isn’t. I’ve heard that a lot of people thought it was going to be really creepy and got let down.

Luckily for me, I went into this trilogy knowing that it was an adventure/fantasy book so I got a lot more out of it than others. After marathoning all three books, I can officially tell you this: Ransom Riggs is a genius.

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins odd Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its decaying bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that Miss Peregrine’s Children were more than just peculiar. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for a good reason. And somehow – impossible though it seems – they may still be alive.

As aforementioned, this book is not a creepy book, it is an adventurous one. I tried to explain it to my Dad and I said ‘it’s got the plot line of a children’s book but it’s written in an adult way.’ And it’s true. A young boy goes on an adventure and makes new friends along the way who have powers. That’s pretty much the premise of the book but it’s so much more than that!

 

This is Riggs’ first novel and it’s such a brilliant debut. The idea is magnificent and the way the story is told with the pictures is also amazing. I loved the pictures. Some people said that the pictures weren’t scary at all and that they were boring – I didn’t think they were. They added a sense of realness to the story. There were pictures of people that looked like they could actually be the characters of the peculiar children, there was a picture of a boat, of a child, sat on a pavement in a bunny costume, of an old woman dressed all in black… They weren’t creepy (ok, maybe a couple was) they were just normal photos that had been taken and they had collected altogether and turned into a story which I think is so clever of Riggs. You would read a page, look at the picture and get a sense of how the setting looked like, how it might have felt, the way the characters may have looked. Sure, Riggs also included a lot of written descriptions about all of these but the pictures just added more.

“Stars too, were time travelers. How many of those ancient points of light were the last echoes of suns now dead? How many had been born but their light not yet come this far? If all the suns but ours collapsed tonight, how many lifetimes would it take us to realise we were alone? I had always known the sky was full of mysteries – but not until now had I realised how full of them the earth was.”
– Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
 
 

The world that Riggs had created was also very intriguing. I loved the concept of the ‘loop day’, of peculiar children, of monsters and of a boy who thinks he’s got nothing to do with all of it until one day, he finds out he does.

The only downfall that I can say about Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is the romance between Emma and Jacob. It was just weird. Emma had dated Jacob’s Grandfather. Jacob’s Grandfather and Emma were in love, and now Jacob comes along, Emma hasn’t aged a day and then the two of them fell in love. It just felt so weird and there was even a time in the book where Jacob says that himself. it was just strange and I didn’t get why Riggs had to throw that weird type of romance in.

Overall, this was an incredible book. It was incredibly written, there were incredible characters and the use of photographs alongside the story was fantastic. This is a spectacular debut novel from Ransom Riggs and I look forward to reading other books by him!

 

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

I first read this book a couple of months after it came out a year go, but my local Waterstones run a book club and this month’s book was Never Always Sometimes. Since I decided that I was going to start going to the book club, I decided to give the book a re-read.


Even though I’ve labelled this book as 3 stars, I would actually give it 3.5 but I felt like that extra half a star to make it 4 would be too generous.

Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be clichés, so they even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they’d never, ever do in high school.
Some of the rules have been easy to follow, but Dave has a secret: he’s broken rule No.8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It’s either that or break rule No.10, never date your best friend.
Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember. So, when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover they’ve actually been missing out on school.
The whole premise of the book is based around the Never List, the list of ten clichés that is high school including a house party, a crush on a teacher, have a permanent lunch spot and dying your hair a bright colour. This book is all about clichés to the point where the book itself is a cliché. I don’t know whether this was done by Alsaid on purpose to carry on the premise of the story or whether it’s just another teen fiction story that is – by accident – full of the unfortunate clichés of being a teenager.
If Alsaid made the book a cliché, then it was amazingly clever of him and I applaud him for it.
The book is split into three parts: part one is all from Dave’s point of view, part two is from Julia’s and part three is from both of theirs, switching every chapter.
Never Always Sometimes was heartbreaking, moving and hilarious. The whole question of “can a boy and girl be friends without ever getting into a relationship?” surrounds this book. Now, we all know that of course opposite sexes can be friends but it’s still an interesting concept to read about.
“Love was lazy as hell. Love laid around in bed, warm from the sheets and the sunlight pouring into the room. Love was too lazy too lazy to get up and close the blinds. Love was too comfortable to get up and go pee. Love took too many naps, it watched TV, but not really, because it was too busy kissing and napping. Love was also funny, which somehow made the bed feel more comfortable, the laughter warming the sheets, softening the mattress and the lovers’ skin.”
– Adi Alsaid, Never Always Sometimes
 
 
The whole plotline was also very very obvious, you knew what was going to happen 100 pages for it did (again, another cliché – on purpose or not, we will never know).
It’s interesting to see how Dave deals with his feelings for Julia and how he deals with starting to become popular and meet new people (and girls) after he starts doing the Nevers List.
Alsaid is a brilliant writer. His words just flow really easy and the characters are 100% relatable in the way that they deal with situations (even when they handle them badly). The one thing that I thought was a bit odd was the four-year time jump at the beginning. I’m not a massive fan of time jumps. Six months or a year I can handle, but four years? I wasn’t too happy but after reading about the characters for a while, I finally understood why the time jump was so important.

This is a good book. It’s a nice, easy read but I’m not so sure whether the all of clichés that were in the story were there on purpose. Everything was just too obvious and because of this, it made the book feel a bit silly. The very ending wasn’t the best either, some of it could have been gotten rid of but apart from those few points, this book was a good read and I do recommend it.

 

Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard

Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard

You what drew me to this book in Waterstones? No, not the fact that it was on the stand labelled ‘Zoella’s Book Club‘. It was the amazing cover which was designed by Rachel Vale (everyone, please give her a round of applause for she is so talented!)

I turned the book over and gave the blurb a quick read. Finally! A book about friendships and the struggles that they go through.

Caddy and Rosie have always been inseparable. But that was before Suzanne. Now Caddy wants to be more than just the quiet one. She wants something to happen.

I was brave…
Suzanne is trying to escape her past and be someone different. Someone free.

She was reckless…
But sometimes downward spirals have a momentum of their own.

We were trouble…
And no one can break your heart like a best friend.

Whilst I was reading this book, I stated on my Goodreads that “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this book.” That was whilst I was on page 45. Now that I have finished it and I’ve had time to reflect, I can say that my opinion has only slightly changed.

It is true, Beautiful Broken Things was like a breath of fresh air. There was no unconditional love and a boy and a girl feeling like they couldn’t breathe without each other. This book was purely about three girls overcoming obstacles in their friendships and about trying to save one another.

First things first, I think using Caddy as the narrator was completely wrong. She describes herself as “dull” in the book and I completely agree, she was dull. I wish the book had been written from Rosie’s perspective – that would have been much more interesting.

“But people we love come and go, Caddy. That doesn’t mean we loved them any less at the time.”
– Sara Barnard, Beautiful Broken Things
 
 

The character of Caddy (or Cadnam, which is her real name. By the way, who even calls their kid Cadnam? That’s just mean) is selfish, childlike and annoying. There’s a whole scene to do with Coronation Street and trigger warnings that – every time I think about – get me really really angry. Sometimes, I just wanted to scream at her to stop talking. However, I can see why Barnard chose Caddy to be the voice throughout the book. Most of the books plots happen between Suzanne and Caddy.

I loved the character of Suzanne. I felt like she was the character that had the most depth – not because of what happened to her, but because she was the character that was written the best, the character that was most real (again, not because of what happened to her.)

You know what I love most about this book? It’s that it’s relateable. My best friend and I have been best friends for nearly ten years and every time either of us gets close to another person, we instantly get jealous and we’re like “back off, she’s my best friend.” And this is what the beginning of Beautiful Broken Things is like.

There are some dark moments in this book but I think Barnard talks about them with great depth and doesn’t shy away from anything, she doesn’t skim over what happens. She writes about it in a matter-of-fact way that is definitely needed for this book.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would definitely read it again. I love the whole premise of the book and I loved the character of Suzanne. The only thing that let this book down was Caddy. I just didn’t like her character at all. But once you get past the teenage horribleness of her character, there’s a very very good book.

Warning: this book contains scenes of physical/emotional abuse  

Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell

Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell is slowly becoming one of my favourite authors. After searching for all of her books on Amazon, I came across Kindred Spirits. Since I am no longer in school, I miss out on all the World Book Days and I don’t get to see all of the amazing books that are written for it.

Following World Book Day tradition, this book is very very short. It’s 62 pages, so if you were expecting a Fangirl size book, then you’re going to be disappointed. It didn’t even take me an hour to finish this book but I loved every single second of it.

If you broke Elena’s heart, Star Wars would spill out. So when she decides to queue outside her local cinema to see the new movie, she’s expecting a celebration with crowds of people who love Han, Luke and Leia just as much as she does. What she’s not expecting is to be last in a line of only three people; to have to pee into a collectable Star Wars soda cup behind a dumpster or to meet that unlikely someone who just might truly understand the way she feels.

 This book is both cute, hilarious and real. I totally related to the character of Elena since I am also a huge Star Wars fan.

 The concept of the book was really good. I love the idea of a massive fan queuing outside a venue for days on end just so they can get good seats. I would love to do this myself as the longest I’ve queued was when my best friend and I went to a concert and went four hours before the doors opened so that we could get a good view. We were fifth in line. So I can relate to Elena on that front also.

“How could you possibly have a dark secret involving the Star Wars prequels? Are you responsible for Jar Jar Binks?”
– Rainbow Rowell, Kindred Spirits
 
 


 I also loved the argument that Rowell portrays through this book of geeks vs fake geeks (fake geeks being people who pretend to like ‘geeky’ things because they think it will make them ‘cool’). In no way am I agreeing or disagreeing with the argument that is conveyed to the readers, but I found it very interesting. 

 The ending too was absolutely amazing. It’s probably one of the best endings I’ve read in a long time! 

 The only part of this book that I didn’t get is that Elena is described as quiet, a person who finds it difficult to talk to other people but throughout this 62-page story, I didn’t see any of that. I saw a girl who was confident to talk to a complete stranger and pee in a cup whilst he was standing a few feet away.

 If you’re looking for a quick and easy read that is lighthearted and funny then this is the book for you. Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan – read this book! 

 Rainbow Rowell has done it again – another amazing story!


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