GUEST REVIEW: Solitaire - Alice Oseman

GENRE: Contemporary

PAGES: 400
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This book is released in July and can be preordered in store now for a £3 deposit.

Find out details for the Solitaire launch party in Birmingham here.

SUMMARY

In case you're wondering, this is not a love story. My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year - before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people - I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that's all over now. Now there's Solitaire. And Michael Holden. I don't know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don't care about Michael Holden. I really don't.

REVIEW

Oh God, I don’t even know where to start. I’ll begin with saying that this book is definitely a ten out of ten, and that I couldn’t fault it even if I tried. 

The protagonist, Victoria Spring (or Tori as she prefers to be called) is not a brave, out of this world character. But rather a real teenager that suffers through the days the same ways we do. I found that this was the main message of the book, not love or bravery or being above average, but being a teenager in this screwed up world, and how Tori grew as a person. She was so easy to relate to and I found myself on multiple occasions thinking to myself “That is literally me” or “THANK YOU for expressing my thoughts so perfectly!” The fact that she is so pessimistic and hates pretty much everyone, and simply can’t care makes it so easy for me to just relate to her. I also dislike many people at my school, I generally don’t get along with many people and just like Tori, I’d rather just sleep and blog. 

Michael Holden. Michael is one of those boys that you are likely to encounter at some point in your life. He’s not a strong, cool dude who everyone seems to love (I hate people who everyone loves), he’s a boy who is also trying to figure himself out, and figure the world around him. He’s real and honest. He’s also crazy and a bit weird, but that’s what made me love him. Lucas, Becky, Charlie and Nick are also very interesting side characters who make the book all that more interesting (and can I please have Becky’s hair??)

I loved that no one in this book seemed to be completely fine; no one seemed to have a perfect life either. Everyone had something going on, they all made mistakes, and that reflected life so perfectly. Even Solitaire, a blog that everyone suddenly started following and loving, made silly mistakes (like almost killing some people)- showing that even a strong figure that people look up to will make mistakes, and this reflected life so perfectly. 

The fandom mentions and school references (like PEE, ugh.), made the book even more real and agh, I love this book so much.

I did guess who was behind Solitaire quite early on (and got it right, whoop!), but the element of mystery was always there, and I was always second guessing myself and wondering whether I was just an idiot ha!

The ending of the book was not perfect, there was no real closure. But that’s what I loved most, the sheer honesty of it. Problems don’t get solved when you find romance or when you make up with your friends, some problems take years to go away, and some never do. 

I cannot recommend this book enough, go and preorder it ASAP if you haven’t already. Alice Oseman is going to be famous, I just know it. 

Also, follow Alice’s blog ( http://chronicintrovert.tumblr.com/ ) and her twitter. ( https://twitter.com/AliceOseman )

Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me the book, follow them on twitter too!( https://twitter.com/HarperCollinsCh )

- Maryam

GUEST REVIEW: Not A Drop To Drink - Mindy McGinnis

GENRE: Dystopa/Futuristic
PAGES: 352
PUBLISHER: Harper360
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 4 Stars

This book will be published 25/09/14. Preorder now in store.

SUMMARY

Teenage Lynn has been taught to defend her pond against every threat: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and most important, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty--or doesn't leave at all. Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. But when strangers appear, the mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won't stop until they get it. . . .

REVIEW

Recently, I received a copy of Not A Drop to Drink and I couldn’t have been more excited to read it. Ever since I heard about this book last year, I was so excited to read it but I never ending up getting my hands on it. But now I have one and I’ve read it. I absolutely did adore this book.

This is a great dystopian novel that is just simply a story of survival. What I did love about this story was that it was just about a girl who was doing whatever she can to survive. When I first started reading this book, it took me a while to get into it but once I got into it, I couldn’t stop reading because it was a fast paced dystopian novel. I have missed reading fast paced dystopians so this one was amazing.

I think Lynn was a great main character. She was strong and she knew what she had to do in order to survive. She did grow throughout that book as she started off as a very lonely and isolated character but she grew to let people in. However she didn’t lose her essential desire to survive. She didn’t let people do things for her, even at the end as she is a very independant person who likes to be in control. However, when she first comes across the other characters and starts talking to them you realize just how much she doesn’t know. Living with her mother in an isolated house for her whole life meant that she wasn’t aware of things that we all know such as flirting or sarcasm. This made her a very weird person around others as she didn’t understand fully. I still did really enjoy Lynn as a character and I think in the second book, I will like her more.

Whenever Lynn would talk to anyone throughout the book this gif ran through my mind(and not just because it has Dylan O’Brien)

Most of the side characters were good too. I loved Stebbs, Lucy and Eli. I feel like they all bought out a new side to Lynn and they did change her quite a lot. Stebbs made her open up and let people in because he convinced her that she needs to start talking to other people. Lucy made her realise just how much she enjoys the company of others and how she can still take care of others while protecting herself. Eli just changed her and made her better because he helped teach her new things that she wasn’t aware of and he taught her how to love. I really didn’t understand Neva and I didn’t like her character at all.Even after what she did at the end, I didn’t like her. The final side character that appeared was Vera. However, she only appeared about 80% through the book and I hardly got to know her but for now I like her.

This is only a four star read because at the start, I found it to be quite slow until the thing happened that completely changed the book as a whole as well as the pacing of the book. It is also only four stars because I felt as if the ending of this book was too rushed. If this book was slightly longer and the ending was spread out over possibly 100 more pages, I would have enjoyed it a lot more and possibly have given it 5 stars. I also really didn’t like the thing that happened to a character at the end. Why did that have to happen? I felt as if it was unnecessary and the response to what happened was too quick to really appreciate why it happened.

When that thing happened at the end, I didn’t feel overwhelmed with sadness. This was basically me when it happened.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. I am very excited to get my hands on the second one and read it as soon as possible. Thank you for reading and see you soon with another post.

- Sofia.