If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Publisher: Picador

Released:  20th of September 2018 

Our narrator’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family, living alone with only his cat Cabbage for company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can set about tackling his bucket list, the Devil appears with a special offer: in exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, he can have one extra day of life. And so begins a very bizarre week . . .

Because how do you decide what makes life worth living? How do you separate out what you can do without from what you hold dear? In dealing with the Devil our narrator will take himself – and his beloved cat – to the brink. Genki Kawamura's If Cats Disappeared from the World is a story of loss and reconciliation, of one man’s journey to discover what really matters in modern life.

What I Have to Say 

This book was very weird, but not in a bad way. The concept alone is very quirky and the way that Kawamura describe death was also strange, but very interesting. There was definitely a lot of symbolism to find there. In general, the book is extremely philosophical, looking at various things that seem like they don't matter that much but make the world very different when they are missing from it. 

The cat, Cabbage. Was definitely the best part. I don't want to give anything away, but we had a real glimpse at his personality and the way he saw the world. And having a cat called Cabbage was always going to be a way into my heart. Cabbage and Lettuce are beautiful creatures and the world would definitely not be as good without them! 

As someone who reads a fair amount of Japanese literature, I was able to put up with some of the style differences, but if this is the first book that you're reading that was originally written in Japanese, you may find it off-putting. The flashbacks flow on from the text, instead of being separated into a separate scene and the narrator tends to go off on tangents a lot before casually rejoining the scene. Also, some of the translators choices felt a bit off to me, especially in case of thinking something rather than speaking it. In Japanese thoughts are written very much like speech, with "I thought" coming after the thing that is being thought. If felt to me like much of these sentences were fairly directly translated, meaning that you think that the character is saying something aloud when it's actually only thought. This was very off-putting when it happened. 

Overall though, it was an interesting concept and a fun story. 

So if you could have an extra day of life but something had to disappear from the world in exchange, what would you get rid of? Would you be able to live without cats? 

Let me know in the comments! 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Picador for providing me with this copy for review. 

Mystery and Mayhem edited by Katherine Woodfine

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 304

Publisher: Egmont

Released: 5th of May 2016 

Twelve mysteries.

Twelve authors.

One challenge: can YOU solve the crimes before the heroes of the stories?

What I Have to Say 

As a massive mystery fan, this was obviously a title that I was eagerly anticipating, but I was kind of disappointed. There were some really great short stories, especially from Robin Stevens, Katherine Woodfine, Francis Hardinge and Helen Moss, but some of the earlier stories seemed a little lacking in tying things up at the end. A few left out the motive, which personally I think is pretty important in a mystery, or otherwise left things seeming a little unfinished, I think this was partly due to the shortness of each story, but I was left unsatisfied 

That said, on the whole, I enjoyed the book. I like the sections that everything was split into, meaning that you can flick through to the type of mystery you want to read, whether it's about poisons or dogs. 

Naturally, I enjoyed seeing authors I already liked, but this was also a good way to find new authors. There are some authors that I'd like to read more from, like Helen Moss and and Sally Nicholls. Also, some of the stories were connected to already established series that I hadn't heard of. This was a really good way to read a small piece as a taste of the series. 

Although I was disappointed, I would definitely recommend this to people. There were some fantastic stories from some really great authors so it's well worth reading just for those! 

3.5 stars 

My thanks go to Egmont and Netgalley for providing me with this copy to review. 

Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 368

Publisher: Puffin

Released: 7th of April 2016 

Denizen Hardwick is an orphan, and his life is, well, normal. Sure, in storybooks orphans are rescued from drudgery when they discover they are a wizard or a warrior or a prophesied king. But this is real life—orphans are just kids without parents. At least that’s what Denizen thought. . . 

. 

            On a particularly dark night, the gates of Crosscaper Orphanage open to a car that almost growls with power. The car and the man in it retrieve Denizen with the promise of introducing him to a long-lost aunt. But on the ride into the city, they are attacked. Denizen soon learns that monsters can grow out of the shadows. And there is an ancient order of knights who keep them at bay. Denizen has a unique connection to these knights, but everything they tell him feels like a half-truth. If Denizen joins the order, is he fulfilling his destiny, or turning his back on everything his family did to keep him alive?

What I Have to Say 

I felt this was a good start to a series. With a series like this, the first book is always a similar story, so I find that it's best to look beyond the main story line and see what is there that sets it apart from the other books like it.

In Knights of the Borrowed Dark, the characters were the main thing that stuck out for me, there was a good range of characters with a variety of backgrounds that set them apart from each other and makes me want to know more about them. The other thing was the way that Rudden used words to evoke emotions in a way that few writers are capable. 

The only thing that really bothered me about the book was the orphanage, because orphanages don't really exist any more or at least not in the way that they were shown in the book. I can forgive it as a part of the world, but I would like to have had it explained. 

I think that this series could go either way, but that Dave Rudden has many great things in his future, I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. 

3.5 stars 

Rivers of Ink: Genesis by Helen Dennis

Synopsis (from Netgalley) 

Pages: 359 

Publisher: Hodder Children's Books 

Released: 14th of January 2016 

What if a teenage boy washed up on the banks of the River Thames, soaked to the skin and unable to explain who he is?

What if the only clue to the boy's identity is a sketch he made of a strange symbol?

Who would help him? Who would hunt him? 

Who is River Boy?

When a mystery teenage boy emerges from the River Thames drenched, distressed and unable to remember anything about himself, he becomes the focus of worldwide media speculation. Unable to communicate, the River Boy is given paper and a pencil and begins to scribble. Soon a symbol emerges, but the boy has no idea why he has drawn it even thought it's the only clue to the mystery of his identity...

As the boy begins to build a new life under a new name, the hunt for his real identity begins.

What I Have to Say 

This was a good opening book of the series. It set things up nicely, starting off the mysteries and setting up the characters. It had enough danger and mysteries to keep the reader occupied, while leaving plenty of things unsolved too keep you interested in the series. 

I liked all the alchemy in the book. The use of the symbols that they didn't understand. I only with there could have been more of it. Other than the Ouroboros, it felt a bit like they were handed the answers on a plate (or through google searching) and then just guessed how they fitted together. It would have been nicer to have some evidence to show they were right other than the people chasing them. 

Other than that, I enjoyed it. It's a series that I'm sure I'll continue reading, though perhaps not one I'll eagerly await the next book of. 

Gathering Voices by Kris Humphrey

Synopsis (from Netgalley) 

Pages: 224

Publisher; Stripes Publishing

Released: 7th of January 2016 

When a raven drops a white feather at the doorstep on the day of your birth, it is a symbol of your destiny. You are a Whisperer – a guardian of the wild. 

The war against the shape-shifting Narlaw is raging. Mika and her Arctic fox companion, Star, must travel from their distant mountain home to join Dawn and the other Whisperers at the palace. The journey is fraught with danger and the outlook for the kingdom of Meridina is bleak, but Mika has discovered a gift that might just change their fortunes. Could she hold the key to defeating the Narlaw?

What I Have to Say 

I'm really enjoying this series. It's cute and the power to talk to animals has been a thing I have loved reading about since childhood. But there are too many Whisperers. Every book is introducing more and more and though I really love Mika and Star, I'm finding that I miss some of the Whisperers from the earlier books.  The only one we've gone back to in this book is Dawn and as much as I like her, I find myself wondering why they don't mention all the other Whisperers that are knocking about in the palace. 

I'm also wanting to know more about the setting. There seem to be so many little cultures with slight differences that we just don't see for that long because the characters from that part of the story are all leaving their homes. In the last book Tuanne was the most interesting part, because her way of life was so different and she was having to adapt. We need more of that. 

I seem to have only talked about problems in this review, but I really am loving the series. I love the characters and their companions and their fight against the Narlaw. I just want more of it. More detail, more explanations of the culture. Just more. 

Counting Stars by Keris Stainton

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 288

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Released: 3rd of September 2015

Big city, big dreams, no money, no problem...

Six 'friends', one flat, big dreams... what could go wrong? When eighteen-year-old Anna leaves school and moves to Liverpool, she feels like her life is finally beginning. She's landed her dream job at a theatre, and she's moving into an exciting (if not slightly run-down) flat on a buzzing street lined with shops, bars, and buskers. Best of all, her new flatmates are kind, welcoming and a lot of fun - what more could she ask for?

But although her new life is fun, it's also a little overwhelming. Anna's job quickly falls through, and then she realises that although her new friends are great, they're also a little mixed-up... and it's not long before Anna starts using her blog to talk about her experiences, from the hilarious to the ridiculous to the little-bit-scary. But when Anna spills a bigger secret than she can handle, suddenly the consequences are all too real. She'll have to prove she has the mettle to make it in the big city, or risk losing everything she thinks she wants.

What I Have to Say 

This book was a very realistic tale of a teenager moving away from home for the first time and one of the few books I've see that show a character choosing not to go to University, which is good because it shows the other path that people can choose. This will really help people who, like Anna, don't really want to go. 

Anna moves into a house with people who are honestly the dream housemates. They're fun, they're quirky and they don't argue about who's going to do the washing up (though I think that's just because Alfie does it). I really liked them as a group.

It shows various problems, living away from home for the first time, abuse, job hunting, parental pressure, sharing your life with the internet and many more. But it was a fairly gentle read. A lot of these problems bubbled away under the surface of the story for a lot of the book with the only real conflict coming in the last couple of chapters.

Though this book wasn't a "page-turner" or a "thrill a minute", it made a lot of valid points whilst being a gentle read. Let's be honest here, if all the books you read are "unputdownable" you'd never get anything done.

It probably won't be a book I think back on in six months time, but it was one that I enjoyed reading.

3.5 Stars

Becoming Death by Melissa Brown

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 321

Publisher: n/a

Released: 12th of June 2015 

Ever since her father's demise, Madison Clark knew Death had her number. After losing her first job, she is ushered into the cryptic family business. Little does the teenager know her family is hiding a dark secret; they are grim reapers, custodians of souls on their journey to the beyond. Even years of studying comics doesn't prepare Madison for the reality of having a so-called superpower, the ability to kill with just a touch. Madison expects her historic legacy to have benefits beyond immortality but what she doesn't expect is to still be struggling for cash while reaping souls on the side. 

As if being Death's minion wasn't strenuous enough, Madison finds herself back in school with her worst enemy studying the ancient rules, methods and paperwork of her vocation. In a cascade of life changes: her best friend admits he’s in love with her and she starts a new job as a professional mourner, but she can’t help thinking her family might have other secrets. 

Just when things are finally starting to feel normal again Death throws her a curveball: her next victim is someone close to her. Madison must find a way to overcome the strict guidelines of being a grim reaper in order to save their life. 

What I Have To Say 

This book was good as a simple New Adult book. It was good to see a sort of coming of age type story for going out into the adult world, as this is a stage of life that a lot of people are completely unprepared for. It dealt well with the issues surrounding finding work, getting money and generally looking after yourself. This created a lot of the story and it did it really well. 

The grim reaper side of things parallels well with this; New job; going out into a new world; new responsibilities. It works well as a story and I liked the technical side of the reaper business with the app that they use, but I felt it wasn't well built enough. I feel that the system that the grim reaper business had was a really good start but I wish we could have seen more of it. 

All in all, I think it should have been longer. It could have been improved a lot by taking more time to set up the details of the business more as well as the relationship. 

3.5 stars

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 256

Publisher: Harper Collins

Release: July 1st 2015

A teenage girl will soon discover, there are some things which burn even brighter than fire.

Iris’s father Ernest is at the end of his life.

Her best friend Thurston seems like a distant memory to her.

Her mother has declared war. She means to get her hands on Ernest’s priceless art collection so that she can afford to live the high life.

But Ernest has other ideas. 

There are things he wants Iris to know. Things he can tell her and things that must wait till he’s gone.

What she does after that is up to her

What I Have to Say 

This book was interesting. It took me a while to get into it and it hasn't left me feeling like it was anything special, but there are moments that I can think back to and remember I really enjoyed. I think that for someone out there, this could become their favourite book, but unfortunately for me, it wasn't the one for me. 

There wasn't anything wrong with the book that I can see. I really liked the relationships, or lack thereof, between the characters. Iris' background of not really feeling love and actually despising her mother was really interesting to read. Her friendship with Thurston and Thurston's character in general was one of my favourite parts of the book. I always love an eccentric character and an eccentric character who enjoys doing performance art was sure to win my heart. 

I was also very captured by the descriptions of Hannah and her fakery. It was good to see a character who by very definition hasn't got that much to her, but who is still a very strong, well written character. It is an easy thing to get wrong, making a character bland and uninteresting, but Hannah is just shallow, vain and driven by her greed. She makes the perfect antagonist for Iris, as Iris is striving to form a relationship with her father, Ernest. 

As I said, I enjoyed this book, but don't think it will stay with me as one of my favourites, but I would encourage others to read it as it is well written and full of lively characters. It may not be the book for me, but it could be for you. 

The Memory Hit by Carla Spradbery

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352

Publisher: Hodder's Children's Books

Released: 4th of June 2015 

On New Year's Eve, Jess's life is unrecognizable: her best friend is in the hospital, her boyfriend is a cheater. A drug-dealing cheater it would seem, after finding a stash of Nostalgex in his bag.

Nostalgex: a drug that stimulates memory. In small doses, a person can remember the order of a deck of cards, or an entire revision guide read the day before an exam. In larger doses it allows the user detailed access to their past, almost like watching a DVD with the ability to pause a moment in time, to focus on previously unnoticed details and to see everything they've ever experienced with fresh eyes. As Leon, the local dealer, says 'it's like life, only better.' What he fails to mention is that most memories are clouded by emotions. Even the most vivid memories can look very different when visited.

Across town Sam Cooper is in trouble. Again. This time, gagged and bound in the boot of a car. Getting on the wrong side of a drug dealer is never a good idea, but if he doesn't make enough money to feed and clothe his sister, who will?

On New Year's Day, Jess and Cooper's worlds collide. They must put behind their differences and work together to look into their pasts to uncover a series of events that will lead them to know what really happened on that fateful New Year's Eve. But what they find is that everything they had once believed to be true, turns out to be a lie ...

What I Have To Say 

I have to admit, I thought this would be more like Sleepless by Lou Morgan. Or at least more like the 100 Society. Because I really enjoyed the speed and this was a lot more flat. I didn't really get absorbed into the mystery and tension in the way I would have liked. 

Also the characters felt a little bland. Apart from the good portrayal of the abuse, I didn't really feel any connection to the characters. Hannah and Jess felt a bit too everyday as there wasn't really that many details about their everyday lives. 

It wasn't a bad book, I just didn't get into it enough I think. And I felt the conclusion came a little out of nowhere. 

The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 512

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Released: 26th of March 2015 (First Published 1993) 

Twenty-year-old Ruth Berger is desperate. The daughter of a Jewish-Austrian professor, she was supposed to have escaped Vienna before the Nazis marched into the city. Yet the plan went completely wrong, and while her family and fiancé are waiting for her in safety, Ruth is stuck in Vienna with no way to escape. Then she encounters her father’s younger college professor, the dashing British paleontologist Quin Sommerville. 

Together, they strike a bargain: a marriage of convenience, to be annulled as soon as they return to safety. But dissolving the marriage proves to be more difficult than either of them thought—not the least because of the undeniable attraction Quin and Ruth share. To make matters worse, Ruth is enrolled in Quin’s university, in his very classes. Can their secret survive, or will circumstances destroy their love?

What I Have to Say 

I wish I could have gotten into this, I really do. The first Eva Ibbotson book I read was The Secret Countess. I adored it. The writing was beautiful and the story was enchanted and it's left me with the feeling that I want to grab and read every other Eva Ibbotson book that I've found. But it's hard. This and the other one I've tried, Magic Flutes, have been so slow and hard to get through and though the prose is absolutely beautiful and the stories are gorgeous, I just can't get past the slowness. 

As I said though, this was a beautiful. Set against the backdrop of WW2 there was plenty of potential danger as Ruth tried to flee Vienna. And her character was beautiful. Her joy in everything new that she experienced. Her love for everyone and everything around him. I think Ruth is someone that everyone can learn from when it comes from optimism and the beauty of the world. 

In the end, it was a lovely story but just far too slow for me so my search for another Eva Ibbotson book that I like continues. 

The Door The Led to Where by Sally Gardner

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 200

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Released: 1st of January 2015

AJ Flynn has just failed all but one of his GCSEs, and his future is looking far from rosy. So when he is offered a junior position at a London law firm he hopes his life is about to change - but he could never have imagined by how much.

Tidying up the archive one day, AJ finds an old key, mysteriously labelled with his name and date of birth - and he becomes determined to find the door that fits the key. And so begins an amazing journey to a very real and tangible past - 1830, to be precise - where the streets of modern Clerkenwell are replaced with cobbles and carts, and the law can be twisted to suit a villain's means. Although life in 1830 is cheap, AJ and his friends quickly find that their own lives have much more value. They've gone from sad youth statistics to young men with purpose - and at the heart of everything lies a crime that only they can solve. But with enemies all around, can they unravel the mysteries of the past, before it unravels them?

What I Have to Say 

Normally any book that has time travel to Victorian London in it would be right up my street. But this book didn't really catch me the way I wanted it too. I think it was the voice of the main character, I don't know what it was about it, but it just didn't do anything for me. 

That said, I really liked the story. Though I felt there wasn't much mystery in the poisoning subplot, I was engaged in seeing who would end up on which side of the door and whether AJ would lock it as well as the mystery of who his father was. 

It also really fitted together well at the end. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll keep this as vague as possible, but all the characters fitted well into the plot and everything was tied up neatly. There didn't seem to be any detail that the author missed when bringing the characters together. 

I really don't know what it was that put me off this book. I enjoyed it, but just not as much as I feel I could have. 

3.5 Stars

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 337

Publisher: Headline

Released: 10th of April 2014 (first published 1st January 2014) 

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and -- finally -- a reunion in the city where they first met.

What I Have To Say 

I've said before that I'm not that into romance. It takes a special romance book to get me to really invest in the characters. As good as this book was, it's a perfect example about how I just don't care enough about whether the characters get together. 

Lucy and Owen were sweet together and I liked them both a lot. But I just assumed they'd get together again after the night of the blackout, so I just sort of trawled through the book waiting for it to happen. That's not the way to properly read a romance novel, is it? I was interested in their individual journey's, Owen's travels through states trying to find a place to make home, Lucy's explorations of London and Edinburgh. I think I was more interested in that then the romance. 

I'm coming across a bit harsh here. I enjoyed reading the book. I love Jennifer E. Smith's writing style. Owen and his father's struggles over losing Owen's Mother was suitably heartbreaking. Because those parts I was really interested in. Would Owen and his dad get over losing his mom? Would Lucy manage to find a way to connect with her parents again and find a home wherever they ended up? Would she ever get to Paris? To me these were way better stories than the romance. 

This is a really great book about travel and snail mail while trying to find a place to call home, just for me, it wasn't a love story. 

3.5 stars

The 100 by Kass Morgan

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 336

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Released: 1st of January 2013

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents -- considered expendable by society -- are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission.

CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves -- but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.

What I Have To Say

Let's be honest, I probably wouldn't have continued with the TV series of this if I'd had anything better to on a Monday night. It was there, it was watchable, I watched it. I got a little into it and when the book was available on Netgalley I decided that I would see if it was good.  It was so much better

Other than decent dialogue, it was actually hard to tell what the TV series lacked until I read the book, but now I can say without a doubt, it was lacking most in background and world building. In the book, the Arc is so much more constructed. There's society. There's castes. There's so much more culture than there was in the TV series and it made it so much more believable. 

The characters were better built too. They all had backstories and issues. Though I found some of the early flashbacks to be a bit unnecessary (did we really need to see how Clarke and Wells met? It was cute but completely unneeded) the later ones really helped to build up the characters in a way that we just didn't see in the series. 

Whether you watched the series or not, this book is definitely worth reading. It's so much better. 

3.5 stars

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 266

Publisher: Children's Simon and Schuster UK

Released: 1st of October 2014

"I was sent here because of a boy. His name was Reeve Maxfield, and I loved him and then he died, and almost a year passed and no one knew what to do with me."

A group of emotionally fragile, highly intelligent teenagers are mysteriously picked for Special Topics English, tasked with studying Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and keeping a journal. 

Each time the teens write in it they are transported to a miraculous other world called Belzhar - a world where they are no longer haunted by their trauma and grief - and each begins to tell their own story. 

What I Have To Say 

This didn't blow me away as much as I think it did other people. I'd heard good things about it, so I was prepared for something amazing.... but it fell a bit flat for me. It's a great story and Reeve aside I liked the characters and the idea behind it all. There was tension in all the right places and I did really enjoy it. 

The only thing that I can really pinpoint that put me off the whole thing was Reeve. He just felt like a stereotype British boy rather than a proper character. He liked Monty Python and Manchester United and wanted to go to Oxford. And the author was pointing out ever little place where the accent was different. Admittedly a real girl falling in love with a guy from a foreign country would possibly notice these things, but it just felt like she was constantly trying to remind the reader that he was British. It was unneeded. 

I will say this about the book though. I showed mental health well. Especially the main character, who I won't say too much about because of later reveals, but I felt that those reveals were needed in the genre of mental health genre (can we call it a genre yet? It's definitely starting). There's a lot of things about mental health that people see as being "attention seeking" or "overreacting" and I do think that showing these things in fiction for what they are, devastating illnesses that affect a lot of people, is the best way to start. 

If you don't mind overly stereotypical Britishness, read this book. 

 

3.5 Stars

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 392

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Released: 7th of October 2014

Britt Pfeiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn't prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants—but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.

In exchange for her life, Britt agrees to guide the men off the mountain. As they set off, Britt knows she must stay alive long enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have taken place there... and in uncovering this, she may become the killer’s next target.

But nothing is as it seems in the mountains, and everyone is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally?

What I Have To Say

I know there has been a lot of negative talk about this book. I seem to be one of the only few who actually liked it. So I'm going to start this review with a paragraph of just my opinions as I'm easily swayed by other people. Then I'm going to look at the reviews on Goodreads and write some more paragraphs on what I think after the flaws have been pointed out. 

I really liked the tension in this book. I felt that there were cliffhangers in the right pages and it kept me reading even when I should have been sleeping, which everyone knows is the sign of a good book. The romance was a little.... Stockholm Syndrome-y? And that was a little weird... But I could see the connection between them and I've honestly read worse books. I quite liked Britt as well. Her friend was completely incapable, but I felt Britt had a good head on her shoulders (unless it came to creepy guys who may or may not have killed people....). 

After reading some reviews, I feel that most people are hating on Britt because she is naive, immature and spoilt. I agree on the spoilt. But other than that... I just... She is a teenager. I have to say that most teenagers are at least a little bit naive and immature. I know I was at that age and it's true that there are exceptions, but word immature... it basically means that you need time to mature. Teenage hood is the time in which you mature... So obviously books about teenagers are going to have some immature characters. I think that the whole thing about Black Ice is that Britt is matured by her journey, by the danger she faces and how she handles it. The thing with Jude being an exception, which I'm just not going to go into, I feel that the Britt we see at the end of the novel is a much more mature and self-reliant Britt, who admits her failings and tries to improve on them. I feel that people are complaining about something which is the entire point of the novel. 

Also Britt's friendship. Yes, it's terrible. Yes, Korbie is a real bitch. Yes, the friendship isn't good. But it's something that can happen in real life. I have actually had friends like that. Do friendships in books really have to be good? 

I'm sure that people will disagree with me, but these are my opinions. I'm not meaning to attack teenagers, I'm just saying that SOME teenagers are like this. 

3.5 Stars

Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 304

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton

Released: 17th of July 2014

Dying sucks – and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows. Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things – including boys.

When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested. There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden’s adopted father, a man she’s sure has sinister reasons for collecting children with abilities even weirder than hers.

But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not have been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.

What I Have To Say

For the first few chapters, I really hated this book. It was slow, rather dull and I really just didn't want to read it. But it is a great example of why you shouldn't give up on a book too quickly, because once things started happening, I started to really enjoy it.

So basically the story is about Rogue from the X-men if she had a little sister to take care of. That's not a bad thing. I like Rogue and I liked Ember just as much, especially while she was trying to control her gift. It was also a really good exploration of how a girl might feel when she's become her sister's carer only to have her taken away.

There was also a lot of other emotion (Ember is really screwed up) as well as a lot of mystery and suspense that made it a really intriguing read. I'm really looking forward to the next book. 

3.5 stars