Miss Mabel's School for Girls by Katie Cross

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Antebellum for providing me with this e-copy. 

Pages: 308

Publisher: Antebellum

Released: April 2015 (first published 21st of March 2014) 

Never underestimate the power of a determined witch.

Letum Wood is a forest of fog and deadfall, home to the quietly famous Miss Mabel’s School for Girls, a place where young witches learn the art of magic.

Sixteen-year-old Bianca Monroe has inherited a deadly curse. Determined to break free before it kills her, she enrolls in the respected school to confront the cunning witch who cast the curse: Miss Mabel.

Bianca finds herself faced with dark magic she didn’t expect, with lessons more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Will Bianca have the courage to save herself from the curse, or will Miss Mabel’s sinister plan be too powerful? 

What I Have to Say 

A private boarding school for witches? I had to have this book and I'm so glad that I loved it. It was a lovely cross between a traditional boarding school book and a story of struggle and plotting. I loved the whole relationship between Bianca and Miss Mabel. The arch-nemesis but pretending not to be relationship. I adored how Miss Mabel always addresses Bianca as dear Bianca or darling Bianca early in the book, even though it's made clear that she knows exactly who she is. 

Bianca's friendships were also really great. Although it's completely unlikely that you'll find such close friendships with the first people you talk to at boarding school, it's something that I wouldn't want a boarding school book without. It's part of the genre. An important part. And Leda and Camille were the typical loyal boarding school friends, who would do anything for Bianca. I especially loved what Leda brought to the mix with her own curse, because it was so interesting and managed to be helpful to Bianca while not obviously there as a plot device to help her along. 

I only think that for me, the book was lacking in the boarding school/ everyday life aspects. It all moved so fast and I think it would have been better from my viewpoint if there had been a bit of leeway in the timescale so that we had more time to explore the school and the other teachers/ students. 

I cannot wait for the next book. 

Phoenix Rising by Bryony Pearce

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Stripes for providing me with this e-copy. 

Pages: 368

Publisher: Stripes

Released: 1st of June 2015

In a future world where fossil fuels have run out and democracy has collapsed, an outlawed pirate crew fight for survival on their ship, the Phoenix, kept afloat by whatever they can salvage or scavenge on the debris-filled seas. Toby has never known anything other than life onboard the Phoenix and he's desperate for adventure. But when trouble comes hunting the Phoenix down, Toby realizes that what you wish for isn't always what you want. He meets beautiful Ayla from the Banshee, a rival pirate ship and sworn enemy of the Phoenix, and his world is thrown into disorder. How can he know who to trust and what to believe? The future rests on him making an impossible choice...

What I Have To Say 

An adventure story with pirates in a future of survival and struggle? What more could anyone want!? This is very different from what Bryony Pearce has written before but her imagination has created a very interesting world, even documenting the progress towards that world with newspaper clippings at the start! I love the idea of pirates sailing around on waters that are dangerous to even touch searching for any supplies that they can salvage. 

Toby was a character who was easy to fall in love with straight away. His voice was strong and his longing for adventure was something that we can all sympathize with even if we aren't being forbidden from going on land. And he had Polly the sassy parrot for company. Who doesn't love a sassy parrot? 

And Ayla. Oh Ayla. I think I was in love just as much as Toby from the first moment he met her. A tough pirate girl for Toby to fawn over was definitely what the book needed. Especially as from the enemy ship! She really showed the contrast between the two ships and how they're run. 

I cannot wait for the next book in the series, to get back into that world. The only thing I think this book was missing is more insight into the other character's thoughts. I'd have loved to see things from Ayla or Hiro's point of views more. Or even Polly's! 

Fantastic coming of age, adventure story. 

M is for Autism by Vicky Martin and Students of Limpsfield Grange School

Synopsis (from the JKP Website) 

My thanks go to Jessica Kingsley Publisher's for providing me a review copy of this book. 

Pages: 93

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publisher's 

Released: 1st of July 2015

M. That's what I'd like you to call me please. I'll tell you why later.

Welcome to M's world. It's tipsy-turvy, sweet and sour, and the beast of anxiety lurks outside classrooms ready to pounce. M just wants to be like other teenagers her age who always know what to say and what to do. So why does it feel like she lives on a different plane of existence to everyone else?

Written by the students of Limpsfield Grange, a school for girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder with communication and interaction difficulties, M is for Autism draws on real life experiences to create a heartfelt and humorous novel that captures the highs and lows of being different in a world of normal.

What I Have to Say 

This was a beautiful look inside the autistic mind. While being a very simple story, it brought up all the issues of being autistic and trying to fit in, while being un-diagnosed so not even really knowing for sure if you are in fact autistic. The whole book looked at the question of what it was to be different and in fact what is normal actually is. 

The thing that most made me interested in this book was that the main character, M, was female. There aren't that many books about autistic females and when there are, they tend to show the same symptoms as the boys, when the fact is that often the females show very different symptoms. Also the mention that it's really hard to find information about autism in females and how a lot of places still define it as a disorder only found in boys,. 

Naturally the main draw of this is that it is actually written by students of a school that specialises in Autism. The illustrations and style of the book does a lot to show how it is to be autistic and have your brain overload with data. 

For a group of students writing a little book, it was very good. Obviously it was simple. I'd love to see some do something like this as a proper novel. 

Anyone who has any interest in autism and especially autism in girls should definitely read this book. 

Almost Grace by Rosie Rowell

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 224
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Released:  4th of June 2015

For the first time in my life I feel like there is a chink of light, another way. Spook's world is raw, cut down to what matters. He is the first person I've met who seems free.

Grace and her Cape Town friends are renting a house on the coast - after exams it's their rite of passage into adulthood. Yet 'maturity' means different things to each of them. Brett and Louisa have plans - university, travelling - but Grace is uncertain of her future. Anxiety drives her to take control of whatever she can, starting with her own body, and it is starting to worry those around her.

When Grace meets Spook - an older, nomadic surfer - their attraction is instant and his relaxed familiarity and assured confidence catch her off-guard. Can she allow herself to lose control, and fall in love?

What I Have to Say 

This book really wasn't for me. The story was entertaining enough and I liked the character enough as the dreamer traveller type. But that seemed like all she was really. And insecure person who was worried by her lack of purpose in life and trying to control things through an eating disorder. It just felt a bit like a stereotype. 

It got better as they found out more about Spook and things started to happen. But it wasn't really my sort of book. It wasn't what I was expecting. Although I did really like the South African setting because I don't really read many books like that. 

All in all, this might be a good book for people who like these gritty coming of age contemparies where a girl meets a strange man on the beach, but not for me. 

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with this e-Arc

Pages: 438

Publisher: Macmillan

Released: 21st of March 2015

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose. 

What I Have to Say 

I found this book really slow. Part of it may have been that the text in my copy which was annoyingly small and hard to read, which while not being the worse thing in the world did affect my mood when I was reading. I don't want to let that effect my enjoyment of the book, especially with a proof copy, but the fact is, it did. That said I've read Naomi Norvik before and found it just as slow, so it's probably just that she's not for me. 

The story itself  was really good though, I liked the main character and her friendship with Kasia as well as most of the interactions between her and the Dragon, because she was so annoyed and grumpy with her all of the time. The fact that she had no idea that she was learning magic was really funny. 

The wood was a really interesting enemy and I really liked the conclusion, so all in all I did enjoy it but might not get anything else from this author.

Only We Know by Simon Packham

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 229

Publisher: Piccadilly Press

Released: 4th of June 2015

What is the secret of Lauren's past?

Lauren's family have moved house very suddenly, and she and her sister Tilda have to go to a new school. Lauren's determined to reinvent herself, but she's panic-stricken when she sees Harry, who she knew a few years ago. Luckily Harry doesn't recognise her, and she knows she has to make sure it stays like that. 

Lauren, unlike Tilda, settles in well. She makes friends, is helping to organise the school fashion show, and has boys asking her out. But just as her life finally seems to be looking up she starts receiving macabre packages. When she gets a message: 'Isn't it time your new friends knew all about you?' she has to admit that someone knows her secret. But who - and what should she do? 

What I Have to Say 

This book is really hard to review because I want to shout out to the heavens about the diversity and the LGBT representation in it. But I can't. Because it's a spoiler. Hence why I've been fairly vague in my terms. I know that there are people reading this who would definitely want to go and pick it up right away if they knew what I meant though. People like me, who guessed the reveal from very early on. 

I can talk about Lauren's character though, which was brilliant. I really warmed to her and how she felt. She was the sort of person who knows what she wants and although she's afraid that things will go bad if she goes for it, she still does. Because she is brave and strong. 

I also really liked the relationship between her and her sister. A relationship that has been damaged by what they've been through and the secret that the family are trying to hide. The same can be said for the relationship with the granma. 

If you would like to know what the spoiler, please say in the comments and I can put in a spoiler section, but for now I'm just going to say that everyone should read this book. 

How to Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 4th of June 2015

When you've had enough of being good, sometimes you've got to try a little bad...

Jesse, Vicks and Mel couldn't be more different. Jesse, a righteous Southern gal who's as thoughtful as she is uptight, is keeping a secret that she knows will change her life forever. Vicks is a wild-child: seemingly cool, calm and collected on the outside, but inside she's furious at herself for being so anxious about her neglectful boyfriend. And Mel is the new girl in town. She's already been dismissed as just another rich kid, but all she wants is to get over some of her fears and find some true friends. 

But for all their differences, the girls discover they've got one thing in common - they're desperate to escape. Desperate to get the heck out of Niceville and discover their true 'badass' selves! Even if it's just for the weekend... One 'borrowed' car later, it's time to hit the road and head for Miami. Hearts will be broken, friendships will be tested, and a ridiculously hot stranger could change the course of everything.

What I Have to Say 

First things first, I completely adored this book. Not as much as Disreputable History as I don't think there are that many books that can reach that level of awesomeness. But I loved it in a fun road trip with a load of drama way. The characters were all great in their own ways though I really think that Mel was my favourite just for her meek, shy contrast to the others. 

The fights that the girls had were all really good developments to the plot and general bonding feel of the book. It didn't feel like they were put in there just for the sake of drama. Even the bit with the alligator felt like it worked well with the plot. 

This is the ultimate road trip book for this year. These three fantastic writers have added to the genre in a wonderful way and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.