The Great Sea Dragon Discovery by Pippa Goodhart

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 272

Publisher: Catnip 

Released: 5th of July 2018

Cambridge, 1860

Would a plant drink ink as happily as it would drink water? Is there anything that eats a cat? How did any spider know how to make such a perfect sticky net for catching flies?

Bill’s head is full of questions and it always seems to get him into trouble. Especially when one of his experiments causes his father to lose his job. Bill gets a bit of money for his family selling interesting fossils he has found.

But it’s not much – and then someone else needs his help and fast.

And it just so happens that Bill has discovered something – something that could be the answer to his problems. But for the rest of the world, it is something that questions everything…

What I Have to Say 

This book had a lot more going on in it that the blurb suggests. And the blurb is pretty exciting to begin with. There's a lot hidden beneath the surface of both Bill's hometown and his family just waiting to be uncovered as things begin to change. 

I loved how sciencey it was despite Bill's class and time period basically meaning that he doesn't know what a scientist is and that it's a real job, it is undoubtedly what he is. From the moment he puts a daisy in his teacher's inkwell to see what will happen to it, the reader is let in on his scientific mindset and given the perfect glimpse of who he is. Or one layer of it anyway. 

I also really liked the way it showed how kids can internalise things so easily. How when parents call their child bad, the child starts to believe it, no matter how good his intentions are. It's an important point to make and I kind of wish they'd done more to challenge that believe in him. 

Definitely a good read for anyone interested in science and history. 

My thanks go to Catnip for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 384

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 

Released: 10th of October 2017 

Find your magic

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy. 

What I Have to Say 

This book was slow. I think if I'd relaxed, I would have been able to enjoy it a lot more. Other than the pacing, I loved it. The magic system was really interesting, I liked how each of the children had a gift that was just theirs and that they exhibited it without even trying, so that there was literally no way of escaping their magic. 

I think I also would have enjoyed it more if I had read Practical Magic first. There were probably references and stuff that I didn't notice because I hadn't read it. It had enough to stand on it's own, but I do think that reading Practical Magic first would probably be better. 

I liked the relationships between the siblings. I liked how they were close and always had each others backs. I think that and the magic were the main draws of the book. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for providing me with this copy for review 

Seven Days of You by Cecilia Vinesse

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 304

Publisher: Hatchette Children's Group 

Released: 9th of March 2017 

Sophia has seven days left in Tokyo before she moves back to the States. Seven days to say good-bye to the electric city, her wild best friend, and the boy she’s harbored a semi-secret crush on for years. Seven perfect days…until Jamie Foster-Collins moves back to Japan and ruins everything.

Jamie and Sophia have a history of heartbreak, and the last thing Sophia wants is for him to steal her leaving thunder with his stupid arriving thunder. Yet as the week counts down, the relationships she thought were stable begin to explode around her. And Jamie is the one who helps her pick up the pieces. Sophia is forced to admit she may have misjudged Jamie, but can their seven short days of Tokyo adventures end in anything but good-bye?

What I Have to Say 

This book had some cute moments, some awesome, crazy adventures in Japan, but it also had a lot of complicated romance. I wouldn't call it so much a love triangle as a ball of wool that has become so tangled up that untangling it is impossible and you have to resort to using scissors or just give up. Everyone in the book was in love with someone else and no one seemed to be in love with a person who actually loved them back. It's not the sort of romance that I enjoy and it just made me annoyed with everyone. 

Sophia's attitude really bothered me. Her feelings for Jamie were obvious from the moment he arrived back in Tokyo and yet she continued to pine after David, who she never even told about her feelings. Her dismissal of David's girlfriend was the worst though. She completely ignored her most of the time, without even attempting to make her feel like part of the group even though the girl felt like things were a lot different. She basically didn't see her as a human being with feelings. I didn't like that and honestly wanted to slap Sophia half the time. 

The book also had a lot of good parts though. It delved deep into how it feels for someone who is constantly shifted from country to country based on her parents whims. Okay not their whims, their jobs but still. It dealt with Sophia's feelings of abandonment from her father who has a perfectly stable life in Paris with his new family leaving no room for Sophia and her sister who are forced to move about between Japan and America with short holidays in Paris, never feeling like they belonged anywhere. This was all explored so deeply and I feel captured the feelings that these kids go through, though naturally I cannot say for sure because I've never been in that situation). 

Also as I said at the start, fun, crazy adventures in Shibuya with Jamie and Sophia. Arcades, Karaoke and Ramen with a side of Matcha lattes. What more can you ask for in a date? 

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