REVIEW: Me and Mr J. - Rachel McIntyre

GENRE: YA/Issues
PAGES: 320
PUBLISHER: Egmont
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 4 Stars

SUMMARY

Fifteen-year-old Lara finds her soulmate. There's just one problem - he's her teacher. Lara's life is far from perfect, but being an upbeat kind of person she saves her venting for her diary. It's the only place she can let out her true feelings about the family dramas and hideous bullying she has to face every day. And then a shining light comes out of the darkness - the new young and MALE teacher, Mr Jagger. The one person who takes Lara seriously and notices her potential. The one person who is kind to her. The one person who she falls madly and hopelessly in love with. The one person who cannot love her back ...can he?

REVIEW

This book was really interesting, because I loved it whilst wanting to slap Mr J! Focusing on a variety of controversial issues such as bullying and student/teacher relationships, the story is very current and therefore it's easy to relate to what is going on. At times it was laugh out loud funny, at others it made me think about how I'd deal with the situation if I was Lara. It's clear that this is going to be a book that people either love or hate, but I was firmly in the LOVE camp and read it in one sitting. It's perfect for fans of Cat Clarke.

- Gem.

REVIEW: Read Me Like A Book - Liz Kessler

GENRE: YA

PAGES: 304
PUBLISHER: Indigo

FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars
 

SUMMARY

Ashleigh Walker is in love. You know the feeling - that intense, heart-racing, all-consuming emotion that can only come with first love. It's enough to stop her worrying about bad grades at college. Enough to distract her from her parents' marriage troubles. There's just one thing bothering her . . .

Shouldn't it be her boyfriend, Dylan, who makes her feel this way - not Miss Murray, her English teacher?

 

REVIEW

I've read a couple of Liz Kessler's middle grade books, so I was excited about this YA offering, and it didn't disappoint. Ash is a great character - funny, sarcastic, insecure, and really relatable. It was really interesting to see how how her character developed as she tackles dealing with her parents marriage problems, her love life and her college work. It's her love life which plays a major part of this story, and it deals with some intense issues in a really sensitive way. There's some good shocks and twists in it which I found really enjoyable.

 

 I can't wait to read more YA from Liz.

 

- Gem.

REVIEW: Twisted - Laurie Halse Anderson

GENRE: Contemporary/Issues
PAGES: 240
PUBLISHER: Scholastic
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 4 Stars

SUMMARY

Seventeen-year-old Tyler is totally enjoying his position as high school Alpha male after years of being "the geek". But then Bethany - rich, blonde, beautiful and the girl Tyler wants - is the victim in a teenage sex scandal, and somehow Tyler is the prime suspect. Tyler had nothing to do with it, but when everyone - including his hard-nosed father - believes he did, Tyler starts to spiral into a nightmarish, paranoid state of mind. He is desperate to find a way out of the mess he's in ...Will he have the courage not to take the easy option?

REVIEW

A quick read, this tale of one boys struggle against gossip and scandal is fascinating. Tyler is snarky, funny and interesting, and it was great to see how he dealt with the situation he found himself in...he is accused of a crime he didn't commit and his family is a total nightmare. I honestly didn't know how it was going to end, and once I'd read it I found myself flicking back through to reread passages I liked. Perfect for an indulgent afternoon of reading!

- Gem.

GUEST REVIEW: Eleanor And Park - Rainbow Rowell

GENRE: Contemporary
PAGES: 336
PUBLISHER: Orion
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

SUMMARY

Eleanor is the new girl in town, and she's never felt more alone. All mismatched clothes, mad red hair and chaotic home life, she couldn't stick out more if she tried. Then she takes the seat on the bus next to Park. Quiet, careful and - in Eleanor's eyes - impossibly cool, Park's worked out that flying under the radar is the best way to get by. Slowly, steadily, through late-night conversations and an ever-growing stack of mix tapes, Eleanor and Park fall in love. They fall in love the way you do the first time, when you're 16, and you have nothing and everything to lose. Set over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is funny, sad, shocking and true - an exquisite nostalgia trip for anyone who has never forgotten their first love.

REVIEWSo Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is one of my favourite books so, why not tell you guys why you should read one of the best books known to the YA universe. I love Eleanor and Park, the whole is book beautiful from the first letter to the last, I loved it.

Eleanor and Park is about a girl called Eleanor and her difficulties at home from her abusive stepfather and her almost absent mother (her mother is always there but never for her daughter). She doesn’t have proper clothes so she has to do with what she got. She sits next to a boy called Park. In a normal situation, you think they will talk, seeing they go to the same school, but no, not for while that is. They soon develop their relationship by Park lending his comics that he reads, then his mix tapes and then finally they TALKED. Even though their relationship started in an ordinary way, it became an extraordinary romance (Eleanark FOR LIFE). However Eleanor, throughout this book, has so many tough experiences from being bullied, to be fearful from her stepfather. Park is to be part of the popular crew (due to him being the only Asian at the school, ASIANS ARE AMAZING) however he is also judged as his father doesn’t think he is masculine enough.

Main Characters:

Eleanor Douglas: Eleanor is amazing. She is strong, beautiful, amazing and just so warming to read about her, shes just awesome. I love her amazing red hair, that gives her character that extra depth. Eleanor kept her head up throughout all the hard times she faced and she never thought the worst in people. Eleanor goes through so many difficult experiences, which is so unfair to her because she is portrayed as such a lovely person like how can you harm a hair on her body, like how?

Park Sheridan: Park is perfect. I love him, I love him, I LOVE HIM. Anyone who knows me, I love PARK. I even have a T-Shirt with his name on it (look at bottom for pics). He is just an amazing character, he always made Eleanor smile (which made me smile) through her bad times, and he always was her comfort blanket (and became mine).

What does Eleanor and Park teaches us?

It is so easy to judge someone so easy and we should never judge anyone. Never ever EVER. It makes the person feel like crap, and we shouldn’t judge someone by the way they look. Eleanor dressed they way she looked because she couldn’t afford to dress in the latest trends. Park doesn’t want to be muscular like his dad wants to him to be. That’s because he doesn’t want to, he feels different. That’s okay. It is okay to be different because it is our life, and we can do whatever we want, and other people shouldn’t judge because we don’t know the full story about why they look like the way they do, or why they act the way they do.

Eleanor and Park is such an amazing book because you get such feeling reading the book, that it just warms your heart and feels with such comfort that undescribeable. It has the teenage awkwardness that we get everyday yet it is prosed so beautifully that if you feel that you are actually living in that moment, and that is what any book should be about; living in the moment of the book.

Eleanor and Park (like Rainbow’s other books) is written beautifully and it is just perfect, honestly. Perfect. However, there is one thing I don’t like; the ending. (You’ll see why).

 

- Ambi.

REVIEW: Only Ever Yours - Louise O'Neill

GENRE: Dystopia/Issues

PAGES: 400

PUBLISHER: Quercus

FORMAT: Paperback

BUY IT: Waterstones

RATING: 5 Stars

SUMMARY

Freida and Isabel have been best friends their whole lives. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the School, they expect to be selected as companions - wives to wealthy and powerful men. The alternative - life as a concubine - is too horrible to contemplate. But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to be perfect mounts. isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty - her only asset - in peril. And then into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride. freida must fight for her future - even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known...

REVIEW

Ever since I have read this book I simply cannot stop raving about on our Waterstones Birmingham High St Young Adult Twitter @yabirmingham, in fact I think it's almost to the point of utter fangirl obsession!

It truly is a great book. It's clever, unique, interesting, and downright compelling. 

It touches on serious issues and deals with them in a scenario that is unreal and yet believable... it's full of dark humour, and it's not a book that everyone will "get" but I am really excited to be able to recommend this book to people, and can't wait for more people to read it as Louise O'Neill is a very talented writer.

- Gem

REVIEW: The Manifesto On How To Be Interesting - Holly Bourne

GENRE: Contemporary/Issues

PAGES: 464
PUBLISHER: Usborne
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This book will be released on 1/08/14 and can be preordered in store with a £3 deposit.

SUMMARY

Bree is a loser, a wannabe author who hides behind words. But when she's told she needs to start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting is born. Six steps on how to be interesting. Six steps that will see her infiltrate the popular set, fall in love with someone forbidden and make the biggest mistake of her life.

REVIEW

Wow, this book is awesome!

Bree is my ideal main character - she is relatable, funny, observant and even before she tried to become interesting, I wanted to know about her and her situation. 

After being rejected for a publishing deal for a second time something in Bree cracks and she feels she NEEDS to transform herself for the sake of the writing, and being able to see her transformation is brilliant. Holly touches upon lots of pop culture references and combines them all the create something new and unique. Important issues are dealt with and they never feel gratuitous, there is a point for them being in the story and I felt they were dealt with sensitivity and the Q&A with Holly at the end further highlights the importance of these issues (can't say what they are or I'll spoil it!).

As you can tell, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more from this author (I've already read and LOVED Soulmates, so bring on book 3!)

- Gem

REVIEW: Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman

GENRE: YA/Contemporary/Issues
PAGES: 216
PUBLISHER: Curious Fox
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

SUMMARY

What do you do when everybody says you’re someone you’re not?

Alex wants change. Massive change. More radical than you could imagine. 

Her mother is not happy, in fact she’s imploding. Her dad walked out. Alex has turned vegetarian, ditched one school, enrolled in another, thrown out her clothes. And created a new identity. An identity that changes her world.

And Alex—the other Alex—has a lot to say about it. 

Alex As Well is a confronting and heartfelt story of adolescent experience—of questioning identity, discovering sexuality, navigating friendships and finding a place to belong. Alex is a strong, vulnerable, confident, shy and determined character, one you will never forget.

REVIEW

Alex doesn't believe he is a boy. He's not always sure that he is a girl either - but for the purpose of this review I'll refer to Alex as a girl. The book opens with Alex at a make-up counter, allowing herself to get a make-over. It's so interesting how this part is written. It's not obvious at first what gender Alex is and my brain tried to pick up keys in the text to find out if Alex is actually a boy or a girl, because this is what we are programmed to do. It is this programming that the book explores and you do find yourself wondering what you would do if you were Alex or Alex's parents.

Alex As Well does exactly what a good book should do - it puts you in someone else's shoes. Live as Alex for a few days and understand exactly how precarious our ideas of gender are. I could understand her Mother's reaction. There must be a certain amount of denial and bewilderment and social pressure. I understand this, I don't condone it. For Alex, I sympathise. How many of us have wished we were someone else? Imagine if you believed you were someone else and had the guts to make that huge change to your life. The most frustrating part of the book is that Alex's parents knew that this day would come.

It made me so angry. Parts of the narrative are made up of forum posts made by Alex's mother, and replies from other mothers. The way it highlights the fixed ideas and prejudices of what a child's identity should be are so shocking. The responses to a post saying that Alex is selfish and spiteful is just appalling. I can understand that it must be difficult for a child not to grow up to a parents expectations but there is no communication. Alex's dad tries but... sometimes we need to take a leap of faith to allow people to be happy with themselves and who they want to be. What does it even mean to be a boy, or a girl? Who decided how we should be? And why does it even still apply in the modern world?

Alex begins to confide in a solicitor and through her new friends at schools she falls into modelling in a fashion show. There is a lot of deserved criticism of the modelling industry but for people like Alex, being tall and looking androgynous is the height of fashion and no one is interested in who you are inside. It's kind of perfect. Alex rocks being the best at both genders.

If a boy is not hurting anyone by wearing lipstick or a girl wants to play football then what is the harm? It seems to be more socially acceptable now for girls to be 'tomboys', which is great, but it's still really hard for boys who want to be more feminine.

All in all, I loved Alex As Well. Alex is a tough cookie and deserved to be allowed to live however she wanted to. Changing minds and opinions is difficult, but books like this are part of the solution.

- Bex

REVIEW: Tape - Steven Camden

GENRE: Contemporary
PAGES: 368

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins Children's Books
FORMAT: Hardback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This review refers to an uncorrected advance edition.

SUMMARY

TAPE is the outstanding teen debut of 2014. Told with crackling prose, shimmering with humour and deeply moving, it will haunt anyone who reads it...Record a voice and it lasts forever...In 1993, Ryan records a diary on an old tape. He talks about his mother's death, about his dreams, about his love for a new girl at school who doesn't even know he exists. In 2013, Ameliah moves in with her grandmother after her parents die. There, she finds a tape in the spare room. A tape with a boy's voice on it - a voice she can't quite hear, but which seems to be speaking to her. Ryan and Ameliah are connected by more than just a tape. This is their story.

REVIEW

I really enjoyed this book; the plot was intriguing and wonderfully written, and the way the two narratives weaved the past and present together was fantastic. Both Ryan and Ameliah's narrations were distinct and vivid - Steven Camden's work as a spoken word artist was evident is how strongly his characters shone through from the page. Ryan's story evoked a real sense of 90's nostalgia which made me smile throughout, and Ameliah's sections made me laugh constantly. I guessed what would happen quite early on but that didn't make me love it any less. I'm really excited to see what he comes up with next!

- Gem.

REVIEW: Charm and Strange - Stephanie Kuehn

GENRE: Contemporary/Issues
PAGES: 272

PUBLISHER: Electric Monkey

FORMAT: PB

BUY IT: Waterstones

RATING: 5 Stars

This book refers to an uncorrected advanced edition.

SUMMARY

No one really knows who Andrew Winston Winters is. Least of all himself. He is part Win, a lonely teenager exiled to a remote boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts the whole world out, no matter the cost, because his darkest fear is of himself ...of the wolfish predator within. But he's also part Drew, the angry boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who, one fateful summer, was part of something so terrible it came close to destroying him. A deftly woven, elegant, unnerving psychological thriller about a boy at war with himself. Charm and Strange is a masterful exploration of one of the greatest taboos.

REVIEW

Oh God. How do I even begin to describe something that I adore so much without giving away the truth of it? Charm and Strange is an incredible, powerful book that is just so compelling I was almost breathless when I finished it. It has a calm, sad feel and the world around me disappeared and I sank into the narrative.

Perhaps I should start by saying how I came to read this book.

A proof of this had been sitting on the shelf at work. No cover really, just blank and black with the title. I'm terrible when books don't have a cover, I almost like to prejudge a book and be proved wrong. I read the blurb and thought it sounded quirky and interesting. My initial thought was that it was a werewolf book, and certainly people on Goodreads have listed it as a paranormal book. Reflectively this really annoys me because they have either formally categorised it without reading it, or they have read it and didn't pay enough attention. However, I noticed it on display at work and chatted to a colleague about it, and became determined to give it a go. 

I genuinely don't want to give anything away about it and that makes it so difficult to review. It's so important to go into this blind to experience the full impact of it. It's like nothing I've ever read before. Charm and Strange is a narrative that unveils a boy's fragmented mental psyche and also the story behind it. It teases out facts through Win's interpretation of events and I was so desperate to know what had happened, what he had done or what had happened to him, that made him become quite so withdrawn. I had no idea, though. I wasn't prepared. There were so many hints and clues as to what had happened but when I finally realised it was like being punched in the chest. It's strange that something so devastating can also be compelling to read, but's its so interesting to read about the development of personality through trauma. I find the brains ability to cope, adapt and change to help us try to cope with situations infinitely interesting.

As a bookseller, it's a tough one for me. I'd be reluctant to recommend this to anyone too young because I think it could be a little frightening, and some of the things Win does can be quite funny if you don't understand the sadness behind it. I'm talking 17/18+. There are still elements of hope and Win is incredibly strong considering how much her has had to deal with on his own. Adults should find a lot to get to grips with, though. It's allegory is so clever (yet heartbreaking) that perhaps it needs a reader with a little more life experience to understand it in a way it deserves. 

Part of me doesn't want to tell people about this book. You know that feeling when you like an underground band that you think is amazing and then everyone loves them and it changes the way you feel about it? I never what that to happen. I know thats how a lot of John Green's long-term fans feel. I don't want someone to turn round and go, 'I don't get it'. Then I'd have to roll my eyes at them, call them a moron and not associate with them any longer. And that's a lot of effort. 

I suppose what I'm saying is read Charm and Strange if you're not a moron, if you're ready for a challenge, and if you're ready to have your heart broken. I'm in awe of it.

"The story that was too big for me to tell, the one that grew to fill the depths of my being and the far corners of my mind. It’s how I lost my system of meaning… but I haven’t lost everything."

- Bex. 

REVIEW: Trouble - Non Pratt

GENRE: Contemporary/Issues
PAGES: 384

PUBLISHER: Walker Books
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 4 Stars

This review refers to an uncorrected advance edition.

SUMMARY

A boy. A girl. A bump. Trouble. This is a smart, touching, funny novel from an extraordinary new talent. Hannah's smart and funny...she's also fifteen and pregnant. Aaron is new at school and doesn't want to attract attention. So why does he offer to be the pretend dad to Hannah's unborn baby? Growing up can be trouble but that's how you find out what really matters. This is the lead title for spring 2014. This is an astounding novel from an exciting new YA voice.

REVIEW

I really enjoyed this book, I loved how both Hannah and Aaron's stories are so totally different yet it brought them together as friends. It was an interesting take on a teen pregnancy tale, it really highlighted how nowadays a girl could be completely condemned through cyber-bullying but Hannah was a strong enough person to rise above it and focus on what she knew was important - her baby. It was refreshing that the tale, whilst it obviously was about teen pregnancy was also about friendship, betrayal, trust and love, all the things you start to experience as a high school student, which made it very relatable. I enjoyed seeing Hannah's true personality come out as she got to know Aaron more, and at the same time, she drew his darkness out of him. 

The only thing I would've liked to be different is to add an epilogue on, to see how everyone was doing a year down the line...especially Rex (is he gay?!) and Katie (god what a cow! But overall I would definitely recommend this book to customers as it is funny, brave, honest, observant and full of things teenagers will be thinking and feeling. For readers over the age of 14+ as there is a fair bit of swearing in it.

- Gem.

REVIEW: Stella - Helen Eve

GENRE: Contemporary
PAGES: 368

PUBLISHER: Macmillan Children's Books
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This review refers to an uncorrected advance edition.

SUMMARY

17-year-old Stella Hamilton is the star blazing at the heart of Temperley High. Leader of the maliciously exclusive elite, she is surrounded by adulation; envied and lusted after in equal measure. And she is in the final stage of a five-year campaign to achieve her destiny: love with her equally popular male equivalent, and triumph as Head Girl on election night. By contrast, new girl Caitlin Clarke has until now lived a quietly conformist life in New York. With the collapse of her parents' marriage she has been sent across the Atlantic for an English boarding school education, only to discover that at Temperley, the only important rules are the unwritten ones. It's a world of the beautiful and the dangerous, and acceptance means staying on the right side of Stella Hamilton, the most beautiful and dangerous of them all. Not everyone is happy to be under the Hamilton rule. But fighting the system means treading the same dark path as Stella - and if Caitlin puts a foot wrong, it's a long way down ...

REVIEW

This is a fantastic YA thriller - think Mean Girls meets Pretty Little Liars with a heck of a lot more venom thrown in!

The dual narrative by Stella and Caitlin was brilliant, it allowed insight into each characters thoughts as things got more and more complicated and heated. Each chapter provides more revelations into Stella's past and Caitlin's developing character and your alliances to characters change consistently. 

This is a really dark tale of friendship, romance, obsession and power play... I loved it!

- Gem.

REVIEW: A Boy Called Hope - Lara Williamson

GENRE: Contemporary/Issues
PAGES: 304

PUBLISHER: Usborne
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This review refers to an uncorrected advance edition.

SUMMARY

Thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny, A Boy Called Hope is a bold and astonishingly moving book about family life in all its shapes and sizes.

REVIEW

This is a beautifully written book that has a seemingly sad premise - a boy desperate for his dad to love him - but it is dealt with so sensitively that it never becomes sentimental or depressing. Dan is a fabulous narrator, he is wonderfully funny, observant, hopefully and his 11 yr old innocence shines through in some brilliant scenes...no spoliers, let's just say if you read it when you get to the scene when he reads something he's found in his mum's handbag you will be cracking up with laughter!

The story builds brilliantly, full of little twists and revelations - some more obvious than others - and the ending of the book made me cry for the last 30 pages or so...it was so sad, happy, uplifting and heartbreaking all at once!

This kind of book would appeal to fans of Wonder or John Green - basically anyone who wants a heartfelt and captivating story.

If you come in and purchase A Boy Called Hope, we'll give you an awesome wristband that says "A little hope goes a long way". We totally spoil you guys...

- Gem.

REVIEW: Breaking Butterflies - M. Anjelais

GENRE: Contemporary/Issues
PAGES: 352

PUBLISHER: Chicken House

FORMAT: Hardback

BUY IT: Unavailable

RATING: 4 Stars

This review refers to an uncorrected advance edition. It will be released in August 2014 and is available to preorder for a £3 deposit.

SUMMARY

Two teens are drawn together, trapped by the expectations of their dreaming mothers. One is sweet and empathetic, the other brilliant and charismatic - but damaged. A beautiful and twisted story of first love.

REVIEW

I wasn't sure what to expect from this novel, and it kept surprising me throughout. Sphinxie is a great character, really different to a lot of female leads in YA at the minute, and the situation she finds herself in is told in a captivating way. It really is the kind of book to read in one sitting as you'll be desperate to know how it finishes. 

I can't really say a lot without giving away any plot points, but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the fact it was unlike anything I'd read before made me like it even more!

- Gem

REVIEW: Torn - Car Clarke

GENRE: YA/Contemporary/Issues
PAGES: 384

PUBLISHER: Quercus

FORMAT: PB

BUY IT: Waterstones

RATING: 4 Stars

SUMMARY

Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt. Alice King isn't expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she's not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares...Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there's Tara - queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down. Cass decides it's time to teach Tara a lesson she'll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...A compelling story of guilty secrets, troubled friendship and burgeoning love.

REVIEW

Torn is told from the perspective of Alice, a sweet level-headed girl with a kind heart. She tells us the story of what happens on a school trip, when she and her friends decide to take revenge on Tara, the school bully. Unfortunately it all goes horribly wrong.

Alice is in the middle of the school social scale - she's not one of the most popular kids but she's also not constantly bullied, like Polly is by Tara. When they're on a school trip and Tara is separated from her 'entourage' Cass, Alice's best friend, decides that it's time that Tara is taught a lesson for all the times she's put them all down. None of them thought their plan would go so horribly wrong. When Tara accidentally dies Alice must live with the guilt and fear of being discovered.

Cat Clarke is always completely spot-on in her portrayal of what it feels like to be in a British High School. I personally hated school, and can remember exactly what it's like to not be in the in-crowd. There's a survival instinct that kicks in that makes you just want to get through the day. Not only do you have to deal with the school work, but also the way you look and the things you say. And just hope that you can make the right friends.

The tension in this book is inescapable. You can completely understand and empathise with Alice's situation. The guilt so claustrophobic and so strong it penetrates the narrative to the point where I was almost screaming at her to tell someone. Her mental state manifests in her hallucinations of Tara, which I thought was a brilliant tool in helping Alice deal with the situation. It was really creepy in places and although you question why she does some of the things she does, at the same time you understand how easy it is to lose a grip.

Another thing I love about Clarke's books is the way she manages to weave the narrative into a tangled ball that is impossible to unravel. Everything happens because of everything else and people affect each other in ways you can't imagine. One event sets off a chain reaction that you could argue starts from when Alice was a much younger girl. When she meets Jack, Tara's brother, Alice falls for him. Obviously after what the girls allowed to happen to Tara this is less than ideal. They make such a sweet couple that I desperately wanted them to be together but there is always this penetrating guilt. You want to be able to erase it for her, and it makes you realise that from an outsider's perspective, and when you look at the hard facts, Alice doesn't deserve to have happiness with Jack. And yet I wanted her to.

I've loved every one of Cat Clarke's books. The narratives aren't challenging but they're so interesting and compelling that I always recommend her. I can actually associate with all of her characters and although you do get a certain amount of resolution there are so many possibilities that run through my head of what could happen after the books are finished, and I loved that. They seem so simply written but there is an incredible amount of depth.

- Bex.

REVIEW: Black Heart Blue - Louisa Reid

GENRE: YA Crossover

PAGES: 288

PUBLISHER: Puffin

FORMAT: Paperback

BUY IT: Waterstones

RATING: 4 Stars

This review refers to an uncorrected advance copy.

SUMMARY

"They tried to make me go to my sister's funeral today. In the end I'd had to give in ...I'd been walking in her shadow for sixteen years and I liked its cool darkness. It was a good place to hide". How would you feel if your twin sister died suddenly? Particularly if she was the beautiful one and you were horribly disfigured. And how would it feel to be alone now if you and your sister were the only ones to know the truth about what takes place behind closed doors at home? And what would you do if it was your parents who brought danger and terror into your life? Would you dare reveal how your sister died? And would you be brave enough to find an escape of your own? "Black Heart Blue" is a powerful novel about the domestic horrors that can unfold within a small community - and one girl's quest to stand up for the truth.

REVIEW

Rebecca and Hephzibah are non-identical twins practically imprisoned in the Vicarage. They are both mentally and physically abused by their parents and while they are home schooled have very little contact with the outside world. When they finally convince their parents to let them go to college they both get a taste of the outside world. The story follows the sisters' desperate attempts to find salvation from the horror of their lives. We join them as they are released in to the 'real' world and realise that they are worth so much more than how they have been treated. 

Black Heart Blue is a very moving and compelling read. It will take you to the extremes of child abuse, hinting at events without being too open, making this an eye-opening read for older teens. Hephzibah's voice is perfectly pitched like a teenagers diary, full of self-confidence and daring. She explores her social skills and adapts quickly, trying out make up and trying to attract boys. Her sister, Rebecca is almost her polar opposite. She keeps to the shadows and tries to make life as safe for herself and her sister as possible. I found that I had to keep reminding myself that they were twins, Hephzibah always felt older, even though Rebecca's voice is more defined.

The dynamic between the two sisters is both hard to read and immensely touching. There is no patronising 'we are twins so we can understand each other better than anyone' - they are much more like normal sisters. Reid is very honest in her portrayal of them, especially towards Rebecca's disfigurement, and sometimes it is brutal, but this works to enforce the teenage attitudes of desperately wanting to be normal or fit in.

'Hephzibah' means "my delight is in her" and she is the light in this book, whereas 'Rebecca' can mean "captivating" and "strong". I did find her captivating; though she keeps to herself and tries to hide herself away, emotionally she is older and stronger than Hephzibah knows. She is level-headed and more realistic than her sister. I think the meanings of their names are interesting: I would assume that as they are brought up with the Church as a huge fixture in their lives that their names would have been picked carefully to represent something, but neither of them reflect the hate that "The Father" so obviously has for them. 

I put off reading this book for awhile because I thought it sounded rather depressing, even though it came highly recommended. I'm so glad I did pick it up because I proved myself wrong completely. I loved it. It was so, so sad yes - but it is also brimming with hope. Even though there is evil out there in society, and even though a lot of people prefer to turn away from knowing abuse happens behind closed doors, there are also people that will stand up and fight for those who are vulnerable. I perhaps felt that Rebecca overcame her mental scars a little quickly and abruptly, but it gives the story much more of a resolution.