Review: Waiting For Wednesday by Nicci French

My mum gave this book to me after she read it, saying how much she enjoyed it and how she thought that I would like it and I have to say that her praise and recommendation was not misplaced; it's a really good book.

It is always going to be difficult starting a series on the third book in and I did consider stopping reading because of continuing storylines, but because it is a crime novel with a new crime to solve, I decided that it would be an alright storyline to pick up. I believe I was right in that judgement as even though there were already characters and relationships that had been established, I found them relatively easy to get a grasp on, even though there were so many for me to remember.

In the past the crime novels I have read have focused more on the technical aspects of solving crimes; the finger prints, analysing the body etc. However as Frieda is a psychotherapist rather than a detective, forensic anthropologist or the like, I was not expecting that from this book. Having read novels from the two different sides now, I feel like I can have a more well-rounded view. This side seems to be based a lot more on impulse, which I guess I do find a bit more unrealistic because it's as if the author is controlling the characters rather than letting the characters do the work themselves, but having said that, I do like Frieda's approach of not wanting to get involved, only wanting to help and them being thrown in at the deep end.

The parallel storylines were something that I really liked about this book. At first they seem quite separate, but as the novel progresses everything starts to come together and to me that shows a great level of thought and planning going into this book, which is something I always love. I was personally more interested in the murder of the mother as that was what this book started off with, but the other storyline of the missing girls meant that the characters weren't just sitting around, waiting for something to happen with the police case;  they were doing something by themselves to potentially try and help other people.

I think that it is fair to say that the characters in this book weren't perfect and that's not a criticism of this book, in fact, it is a compliment. Their flaws made them believable and more like real people. Real people mess up, real people don't get on with everyone and real people demonstrate the same characteristics as Nicci French's characters. The length of this book meant that even though we were overloaded with different people, I feel like from what I have learnt about them in this book, I could know them in real life; maybe not as friends, but definitely know them.

As well as that, in this book there was an interesting crossover between the adult and child world. Three children, or two children and one just adult, were forced to grow up very quickly with the death of their mother taking place so suddenly and then having their own lives picked apart in order to try and find who her killer was. In contrast to that you had the world of Frieda and the detectives who had brushed with death many times before. This combination was a real eye-opener into a place where the two world's collided.

The depth of the investigation in this book was something that I was really grateful for. With each passing chapter I learnt new things about the case and even after all that, I was shocked by who the guilty party was, even though if I looked back I could probably find clues that it was them. As more suspects came into the limelight, it became more confusing, but I liked the confusion because of the new stories that each one told.

My reasons for not rating this book higher are, firstly, that I think I prefer more of the forensic side and less of the impulse and getting involved side of crime novels, secondly, I think there were too many characters and finally, as I haven't started with the first book, I don't think I can fully appreciate this book for what it is.

I think this book has made me want to pick up some more crime fiction in the future.

(Goodreads parallel)

Time

When I say that I love reading, I think that I am just being truthful. Ever since I was really young, books have intrigued me. I would come home from primary school and run up to my room to grab a book, read until dinner and then after, read until way past my bedtime.

Unfortunately, when I got into secondary school, I started to get homework. So, I would do homework until dinner and then after dinner read until way past my bedtime...

However now, with my GCSEs fast approaching, I am now finding that my life is being taken over by revision, no matter what time my supposed bedtime is. I want nothing more than to read all day and all night, but when thinking about my future, I know that I can't spend all my time reading and do have to focus on my exams, at least for a little while.

In January and February I went well past the number of books that I thought I was going to read, but now I feel like it's a good week if I read one book rather than three. That fact upsets me slightly, yet it is what my life has become.

On the bright side, this year I get a summer holiday that is almost three months long, so while everyone else is outside, soaking up the sun, I will be curled up on my bed or in an armchair reading. I would go outside, but can anyone really read with the glare from the sun coming off the pages?

Do any of you find that you have less time to read than you want to?

-E

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Before I even picked up this novel, I was told that it wasn't as good as 'Anna and the French Kiss' (AFK) and after reading this book, I have to agree. With a book that is so closely entwined with the universe of AFK, it is almost impossible not to make comparisons between the two, which though I do feel slightly bad about, is a given.

This book had some wonderful characters in it. I really liked Lola for her eccentric fashion choices and her ability not to conform. I personally wouldn't have made some of the decisions that she made and actually got quite annoyed with her at points, but I think that that was important to make her a well-rounded character. I also liked her for her creative skills, both in baking and in her sewing. My nan is always telling me that having sewing skills will come in handy one day and although I don't think I'll be making a costume for a national figure skating star, it definitely inspired me to want to pick up my needle and thread again.

I think that this may be the first book that I've read that has the main character with two dads, even if the circumstances of her being their child were slightly out of the ordinary. I think it was great how natural this book made it for them to be a couple and how it challenged certain ideas, like the 'who's the woman?' question, which I always get really tired of as well. I'm really happy that even though this book is about Lola and her various boyfriends, this book had that aspect of accepting all couples within it.

If I were Cricket Bell, I would have probably stopped trying with Lola as soon as I found out that she had a boyfriend. Obviously though, I'm not and without that key factor this book wouldn't be a book. Personally, I really liked the idea of communicating to your neighbour through windows that face each other. It reminded me of that Taylor Swift music video that we all know and love and almost made me wish that I could have something similar. The idea itself does sound very romantic and added something to Lola and Cricket that was wholly theirs.

With each time that we met Max, I started to dislike him more and more. Firstly the fact that part of his and Lola's relationship was technically illegal and yet he went with it, made me think that he was a bit untrustworthy. If they really liked each other that much, surely they could have waited? Then the next moment that sticks out is when he was rude to Lindsey. Being rude to your girlfriend's best friend is on the unacceptable list to me and if I were Lola, I would have ended it right there. Finally, we have the overwhelming evidence of how he treated Lola throughout the whole book. I saw a spark of hope for him in the beginning, but the candle never even got close to lighting.

My final point on characterisation is that it was great. I love how Perkins goes into so much detail with all of her characters, even if they are not the main protagonists. I could have talked about Lindsey's love of crime shows and Norah's past and present as well. To me, characterisation like that it what makes a book real. In real life we aren't all flat, so it was good to see characters that weren't.

I have to say, however, that this novel was utterly predictable and in some aspects seemed like AFK, but with the roles reversed. As soon as Cricket was introduced, I knew that Lola was going to end up with him and it would have been nicer if Max were someone that I could actually find myself rooting for, rather than getting annoyed with Lola for being an idiot over her boy choices. I also couldn't help but make the comparisons of Lola to St. Clair and Cricket to Anna. That was what this book felt like to me; AFK, but with adapted characters.

As well as that, I personally feel like Anna and St. Clair were in this book too much. I liked where the end of AFK left me and from then on I could use my own imagination to come up with what happened to them when they graduated and from then on. Of course, they had an important role to play, but their involvement just wasn't to my taste.

Overall though, this was a good book and I'm happy with where it ended. I look forward to getting my hands on 'Isla and the Happily Ever After' next.

(Goodreads parallel) 

Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

I picked this book up on seeing so many people recommend and praise it. If it hadn't been for that then I probably wouldn't have given this book a second glance because the cover didn't really stand out to me as something that I should pick up. However, I'm really glad I did and I think it's taught me not to judge books by their covers.

This book was a refreshing change from a lot of the teen books which are purely focused on romance. Friendship is something that people deal with before they get to relationships and I like how this book fitted that pattern. At its heart, this book is about friends and it was such a nice and different thing to read about.

At the start of the book, I wasn't sure that I was fully comfortable with Emily as a character. She was so dependent on Sloane that it was almost depressing. I wanted to scream through the pages at Emily to get a grip and that she could survive for a little while without her best friend, but as the book progressed I grew to like her more as she became more independent. Looking back, I understand why Emily had to be like that at the start of the book and I'm glad she made the progression that she made.

The storyline in this book was beautiful. The concept of the list meant that the book had integral structure and that I always knew each chapter would have something exciting waiting for me in it. Even though each chapter title was a little giveaway to what would happen, it was still interesting because of how each thing on the list played out. This book made me want to write someone a list/get someone to write me a list and then I can go on a similar adventure.

I feel like I have to talk about the romance in this book, even though I said that the main focus was on friendship. At the start of the book I didn't expect there to be a romance between Emily and Frank and I didn't even realise that there would be one until about half way through the book. That was what I loved about the romance in this book. It didn't feel forced in any way. It felt like a natural progression from friendship to relationship and it made the book seem to be so much more realistic! As well as that, both Frank and Emily having been with someone before made it seem like it was real life because in real life you don't go out with one person and then stay with them forever as it is portrayed in some books. You meet many people in your lifetime and I felt like 'Since You've Been Gone' told the truth about this.

Throughout this book, I wasn't entirely sure what to think of Sloane. At first I thought she seemed really cool because of her fashion choices and the way she seemed to be so carefree and then I started to think she was an utter b*tch because of how she was acting while she was with Sam, but by the end of the novel, starting I suppose when she broke up with Sam and Emily developed her camera, I realised that she was just a girl who had had to live through ordinary struggles that teens go through and had to constantly worry that she would be judged for something that her parent did. I'm so happy with the ending of this book because of Emily and Sloane's friendship being reconciled and I think it was nice to find out about Sloane through flashbacks as we couldn't see her in real time.

In terms of how this book was written, I couldn't have been happier. I am a sucker for lengthy description and that is what this book gave to me. I felt like I was in the book with Emily and I could have easily stepped from my world to hers in a heartbeat. I especially liked the description of the characters as it meant that when their quirks played out I could understand them perfectly and it also meant that I felt their emotions more deeply. The writing in this book made me want to read more of Matson's work because if this book is an example of all her work, then I certainly want more.

My only criticism of this book would be the length of the chapters. I felt that when I was starting the book it was a bit too much to have long chapters when I wasn't really absorbed in the storyline and didn't really know the characters yet. Apart from that, I have no complaints at all.

Overall, this book is absolutely stunning and I would really recommend it to everyone, not matter what genre you normally read. This book is simply amazing.

(Goodreads parallel)

Review: The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

I saw this book on the recommendation table at Waterstone's and was instantly drawn in by the cover and the blurb. Then at the counter the bookseller told me that they were currently reading it and really enjoying it, so I had high expectations. They were met exceedingly in this book.

I have to admit that the first fifty or so pages dragged while the characters were being introduced, but after that the book picked up speed. The first page/chapter really caught me out because I hadn't expected the author to be so blunt, but I'm glad that it was the way it was so that I could understand David better and know where she was in terms of discovering her gender.

I think I need to point this out now, but I am so sorry if I mis-gender the characters here. I personally am very happy if people are able to become who they really are and try very hard to not be disrespectful, but I do not understand everything and so I do sometimes make mistakes. I apologise in advance if I do say anything wrong.

Anyway, I think the book started to pick up for me when Leo came to the school. Seeing he and David interact was what started to bring the two perspectives together for me. Before I had been questioning Leo's role as the other person in the dual perspective, and obviously later in the novel it became even clearer, but at the point I could start to see why Williamson had chosen him to be the other main protagonist.

As someone who is not transgender and has never really questioned my gender, apart from complaining how much easier it would be to be a guy when on my period, I thought that it might be hard to understand Leo and David. In fact it was the opposite. I know that this book has been criticised for only showing characters who have known since childhood that they are the opposite gender, but to me having them already know that when the book started made it easier for me to understand where they were coming from because as teenagers around my age, it is easier to understand them trying to deal with things like bullies and telling people who they are than it is to try and get into the mindset of why they feel wrong in their biological gender.

Having to contrasting worlds in this book was also a good thing to have because it shows that being transgender does not depend on your upbringing or family, it depends on who you are as a person. It was also interesting to catch a small glimpse on what treatments are available for people who are experiencing what David and Leo experienced. It is something that you're not taught about in school and if it wasn't for people I know really wanting to share the knowledge they have on the LGBTQ  community then I fear that I would have acted in the same way that characters like Harry acted, which is not a good thing. I think this book expresses the need for more education in this subject area perfectly.

I have two little criticisms of this book. The first, which is in no way a major thing, is the constant references to what year group people were in. Having the numbers in the text is just not aesthetically appealing to me and often when you're in school you don't know what year people are in just by looking at them. (I thought that some current year ten's were in the year above me until they didn't leave last year.)

Secondly, I did feel like the trip to Kent was unrealistic, though I know how necessary it was for the characters to develop. If only we could all skip some school to go to the seaside for the weekend, but it just doesn't happen.

Overall this book gave me a great insight into the lives of people like Leo and David. I know that by no means do they represent everyone, but I also know that this book is an important step forward in terms of people being more knowledgeable and respectful.

(Goodreads parallel)