Review: When We Collided

When We Collided by Emery Lord
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gosh, where to start? First up, get the tissues ready. I cried at the end. Not just shedding a tear or a tingle in the nose or a lump in the throat, but full-on messy crying. And it's not because it's sad exactly, certainly Lord doesn't leave us with a great tragedy or anything heinous like that. It was more of a bittersweet happiness that reduced me to snot and tears. A fullness, a wholesomeness and a burstfulness.
This is not an easy, quick read. I don't mean because it's hard to connect with the characters, or that it's too complex or annoying, because none of those things are true. In fact it's almost because of the opposite, because it's so big and true, that you need to just pause and savour it sometimes, to let it sink in. It's a bit John Green-esque in style - teens that sound and act like adults, big themes, a life of moments both good and bad. It's lyrical and expressive, full of so much life that it's hard to look at straight-on at times. It's even making me write in a similar vein, but this is only me so it's a bunch of vague metaphors being stuffed in your face.
Lord writes about depression with a truth born of experience, and I read about it with a knowing nod, a tear because it's a hardship I wouldn't wish on anyone, and a smile that said 'exactly!'. When We Collided is not a true story, but it might as well be, because it's full of so many truths that the fiction doesn't make any difference. It's the type of book that i recommend EVERYONE reads. Not just those who are affected by depression or know someone who is, because you don't always know. But if you read this, you might just have an inkling.

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Review: Firsts

Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't generally pay much attention when books are compared to other books or films - half the time I can't see the connection at all, and the other half it just seems like a cheap marketing ploy. But Firsts was touted as being perfect for fans of Easy A, which intrigued me as I love that film without quite knowing why. So I read the synopsis, and was drawn in even more. In went my request on Netgalley, and I was rewarded with a completely enjoyable, insightful and interesting read. And you know what? It is perfect for those of you who loved Easy A. There's just something about it, a feeling you get while reading it, which meshes with the film perfectly.

Mercedes is a girl looking for love and affection, but refusing to admit to herself that's what she needs. Her mother encourages all the things a normal mother would forbid, and her friends are a confusing mix of religious virgin and sex-buddy. There are a lot of conflicting messages in her life, and it's easy to see why she's confused, even if she thinks she's got it all worked out.

This is a read-between-the-lines kind of story, and Flynn gently leads us in the direction we need to be thinking, letting us in on Mercy's deepest darkest thoughts as well as the front she puts on for everyone else.

Firsts is an easy book to love. Flynn's characters are solid and loveable, with a full supporting cast to back up the brilliant Mercedes. Her writing is just the right mix of wit, emotion and description, bringing her world to live in technicolour and giving us all the feels. This is a book that I will read over and over again, just because.

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Review: Learning to Live

Learning to Live by Kira Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you loved The Fault in Our Stars, it's a pretty good bet that you'll love Learning to Live. It has a similar feel to it - beautiful and inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time. Warning: have a box of tissues on hand when reading this book, because you'll need it.
At first I thought it was going to be a pretty standard story, where the shy, unpopular girl catches the eye of the dickhead jock and changes him. But it didn't take long for me to realise that Learning to Live is so much more than that. I really don't want to say too much because, major spoilers! But let's just say that this is one of those books that could change your life. I would urge every teen girl who's lacking in self-confidence to read this book, and to learn from it. Sure, there are elements that are a little bit cliched, but it's the message that you need to take from it, not the literal image.
Adams has tackled a huge and difficult issue here, and she's done it with grace. Her writing is bold and her characters even more so. I can't wait to see what else she gives us in this new series.

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Review: Soar

Soar by Alyssa Rose Ivy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book not realising that there was a previous series that this is a spin-off from, so I was left feeling like there was a lot of information I was missing at times, but I definitely still enjoyed it, and I'll now be looking out for the Crescent Chronicles now. Ivy's characters are big and bold, and her world-building is complex and intriguing, which is hardly surprisng since she's already had a whole series to build it in.

Casey was a great character who I was able to get fully beind, and the chemistry she shared with Toby and Jared made for a real page turner, although I'm not generally a fan of love triangles. This one felt like there was something else going on behind it though, however I'll have to keep reading the series to get any answers in that respect. It's not all about the romance though - the Pterons are an interesting twist on the shifter theme, and their world drew me right in straight away. Soar made for an addictive read, and I definitely want to read more about this world.

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Review: Tonight the Streets are Ours by Leila Sales

Published by: Macmillan Children's Books
Release date: 24th September 2015
Series:  n/a
I got it from: Netgalley
Goodreads summary:
From the author of This Song Will Save Your Life comes a funny and relatable book about the hazards of falling for a person you haven't met yet.

Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom.

Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.

During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was, either. 

My Review:
I was a huge fan of This Song Will Save your Life, so I was inordinately excited to have a chance to read Tonight the Streets are Ours. I tried not to expect to much from it, after all no two books are the same and although I generally enjoy works by the same author who penned one of my favourite books, this is not always the case (see my review of Maggie Stiefvater's Scorpio Races for an example of this). I have to say, TTSAO didn't leave me with the same feeling of euphoria that TSWSYL did, but it did leave me with a smile on my face.

TTSAO is the kind of book that you can't appreciate fully until you reach the end. The journey is a good one; it's interesting and somewhat whimsical yet full of feeling. But the ending is what made me smile. I would have to say, trite though it is, that this is a story of self-discovery. Which is an important and worthy thing, particularly at the age of 17. TTSAO was a reminder, for me, that you don't always have to be the person that other people and circumstances have made you into. Sometimes you have to carve your own way, and sometimes you have to let other people do the same. It's not always easy, but it tends to be worth it.

I can't tell you much about the story that's not already in the blurb above, without getting spoilerish. I can tell you that Sales' writing is just as delightful and insightful as it was in This Song. I can tell you that although written in the third person, her characters are particularly alive, knowable and full of the little things that make us human. They're not all nice, or even especially likeable, at least not all the time, except for Arden. I found myself liking that girl more and more as the book went on. And seeing as I already liked her from the start, I guess by the end I was half in love with her. The thing about the characters in general, is that they're not the same people at the end as they are at the start. As Arden discovers this, so do we. I can also tell you that while not as happy-making as This Song, TTSAO was thought-provoking, smile-provoking and insurance that I will read whatever Sales throws at me next.

Review: Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

Published by: Simon & Schuster UK
Release date: 13th August 2015
Series:  n/a
I got it from: Netgalley
Goodreads summary:
Since school had let out in May, gold graffiti had been popping up around San Francisco. Single words painted in enormous golden letters appeared on bridges and building fronts. Not semi-illegible, angry gang tags, but beautifully executed fonts done by someone with talent and skill...

Meeting Jack on the Owl—San Francisco's night bus—turns Beatrix's world upside down. Jack is charming, wildly attractive...and possibly one of San Francisco's most notorious graffiti artists.

On midnight rides and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who this enigmatic boy really is. But Jack is hiding much more - and can she uncover the truth that leaves him so wounded?

My review: 
I haven't read any of Bennett's adult fiction, and I know this is her first foray into YA, but I really hope it isn't her last. Here is a writer who knows her stuff. With a style reminiscent of Maggie Stiefvater and David Levithan (high praise indeed coming from me), she enchants and ensnares the reader with cunningly-placed descriptions and meaningful yet pithy dialogue.

Bex is an infinitely complex character, an artist with an obsession for the somewhat macabre subject of human anatomy. She has removed all colour from her life, working only in monochrome, a habit that has overflowed into her clothing choices too. She studies hard, and leaves the drinking and partying to her brother Heath.

Then she meets Jack. He's her opposite - mysterious, a law-breaking graffiti artist, bold and sexy. Turns out they have a couple of things in common though - a tenacity that verges on stubbornness, and the chemistry that flows easily between them. Before long, Bex is defying her mother and sneaking out (challenging the rules for all the best reasons), while Jack is finally letting someone in to the biggest secret in his family.

I love that Bex wants to draw cadavers for a living. Right away, that tells you something about her character. She's precise, brave, strong, single-minded and not afraid to live outside of the norm. She is the unusual combination of artistry and science. When we first meet her though, she's stagnating. She's too focused on the scientific side, not allowing her artist's heart out. Jack changes that, challenging her and coaxing out her packed-away heart. As always, the best relationships bring with them a synergy, strengthening each party so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Bex and Jack definitely bring out the best in one another, and the pull of attraction between them is palpable from the very start. The banter between them is a joy to read as well.

Bex is a straight-talking type, and I loved the honesty in her voice. The physical pull that Jack holds for her and her worry over the unconventional start of their relationship were evident in her thoughts, and as things progressed, along with other issues and influences in her life, us readers get the full scoop of what's going on in her head.

Night Owls is contemporary romance that feels like a fairy tale at times, in all the best ways. Dealing with family issues and touching on mental health problems in addition to the usual teen dramas, it's a story that's packed full of life. It's set in San Francisco, and Bennett's descriptions of the city made me feel like I was right there. Bex and Jack slammed their way into my heart and mind, and when the book ended it was a wrench to let them go.

Review: Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

Published by: Harlequin Teen
Release date: 4th August 2015
Series:  n/a
I got it from: Netgalley
Goodreads summary:
Never date your best friend

Always be original

Sometimes rules are meant to be broken
Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. 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, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It's either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.

Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. 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 that by skipping the clichés, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

My review:
Male YA authors are a rare breed, and ones that do romance are even rarer. The few that exist though, are worth reading. Men do romance in a different, less showy way to women. I don't want to lump all male authors in together, but when I look at Adi Alsaid, John Green, David Levithan etc, they do have similarities. A certain feeling, a way with words that doesn't rely on over-dramatic emotions and unlikely detailing (although Never Always Sometimes does feature a girl who smells of honey, which I find improbable yet sweet). Dare I say it, these male authors have a tendency towards realism that I find myself charmed by. They also do really good dialogue. But this isn't a review of male authors in general, this is a review of one particular book.

When two cliche-busting best friends get decide to enact a list of cliches, you're have certain expectations. Alsaid goes against those expectations though. Not all of them - you have to allow a certain amount of cliches through the net. But things start to subtly alter, the story starts to turn in a different direction and you're no longer stuck in the cliche-driven story that you expected. And that's what makes Alsaid so great. He takes a bunch of high school cliches and he twists them into something else.

Dave and Julie are both masterful characters. They shun their high school society, preferring each others company. They have a clique of two, and it's easy to see why when you see how the interact together. But when the Nevers list is put into action, they are required to widen their social circle, and that's when you begin to see differences in their characters. If it wasn't for Julia, Dave would probably be a fairly popular guy. He's likeable and personable, easy to talk to and get along with. But he prefers to spend every minute he can with Julia, and Julia prefers not to mix with other students. Julia is the prickly one. Always with something funny to say, a certain disdain for the rest of the school population, a fixation on her absent mother and a desire to be different. Alsaid has done a top-notch job in developing two wholly real people here. It has to be said, the lesser characters suffer a little. They don't have the same 'reality glow' about them that the two MCs have, but that just makes Dave and Julia glow all the brighter.

I'm not going to go into the whole story - the goodreads summary does enough. Any more and I'll be leaving spoilers lying around, and I don't do that. I do have to mention the ending, but I will endeavour to do so without any important reveals. As you probably know if you read my sporadic blog, I have a thing about endings. I'm very picky and derisive of the standard-style ending. I loved the end of Never Always Sometimes though. It was perfect. The whole cliche-but-not-a-cliche story comes to fruition in a way that is unexpected but completely right.

Never Always Sometimes is a very different creature to Alsaid's hit Let's Get Lost, and I loved it in different ways. The bare bones of Alsaid's style still come through though - his ability to paint a scene so that you become wholly ensconced in it; the way he builds characters up until they become so real you could touch them; the journey that the story provides, and the ways in which it makes you think. I really can't wait to see what comes next.