Most Anticipated 2019 Releases

All The Lonely People  by  David Owens 

(January 2019)  (Review Here)              ( Goodreads )

Everyone tells Kat that her online personality - confident, funny, opinionated - isn't her true self. Kat knows otherwise. The internet is her only way to cope with a bad day, chat with friends who get all her references, make someone laugh. But when she becomes the target of an alt-right trolling campaign, she feels she has no option but to Escape, Delete, Disappear.

All the Lonely People is a timely story about online culture that explores the experience of loneliness in a connected world, and the power of kindness and empathy over hatred.

The Paper & Hearts Society  by  Lucy Powrie
(June 2019)                          (Goodreads)

Tabby Brown is tired of trying to fit in. She doesn't want to go to parties - in fact, she would much rather snuggle up on the sofa with her favourite book.

It's like she hasn't found her people ...

Then Tabby joins a club that promises to celebrate books. What could go wrong? EVERYTHING - especially when making new friends brings out an AWKWARD BUZZING feeling all over her body.

But Olivia, Cassie, Henry and Ed have something that makes Tabby come back. Maybe it's the Austen-themed fancy-dress parties, or Ed's fluffy cat Mrs Simpkins, or could it be Henry himself ...

Can Tabby let her weird out AND live THE BEST BOOKISH LIFE POSSIBLE?

Teen Titans: Raven  by  Kami Garcia 
(July 2019)                       (Goodreads)
When a tragic accident takes the life of seventeen-year-old Raven Roth's foster mom--and Raven's memory--she moves to New Orleans to live with her foster mother's family and finish her senior year of high school.

Starting over isn't easy. Raven remembers how to solve math equations and make pasta, but she can't remember her favorite song or who she was before the accident. When strange things start happening--impossible things--Raven starts to think it might be better not to know who she was in her previous life.

But as she grows closer to her foster sister, Max, her new friends, and Tommy Torres, a guy who accepts her for who she is now, Raven has to decide if she's ready to face what's buried in the past...and the darkness building inside her.

Pumpkin Heads  by  Rainbow Rowell

(August 2019)                        (Goodreads)

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.

Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.
But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.
Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if—instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut—they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years What if their last shift was an adventure?

There's Something About Sweetie  by  Sandhya Menon
(May 2019)                                          (Goodreads) 
Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After he’s dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up.
The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work?

Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death.Sweetie loves her parents, but she’s so tired of being told she’s lacking because she’s fat. She decides it’s time to kick off the Sassy Sweetie Project, where she’ll show the world (and herself) what she’s really made of.

Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?

Hot Dog Girl  by  Jennifer Duggan 
(April 2019)               (Goodreads)
Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:

* She's landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog.
* Her crush, the dreamy Diving Pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the Princess of the park. But Lou's never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after.
* Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, who's always been up for anything, suddenly isn't when it comes to Lou's quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou's scheme to get close to Nick.
* And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland--ever--unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.

Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Publication Date: August 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Bought
Series: The Infernal Devices #1

[ Goodreads ]         [ Book Depository ] 

Blurb: 
In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. 

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them...

I know, it's shocking that I have not read any of The Infernal Devices series before now...#BadBlogger 

I'm so glad to be finally getting back on the Cassandra Clare book wagon! I have just started reading more of The Mortal Instruments series and decided it was time to read The Infernal devices before I accidentally spoiled myself! 

So this book started off badly for me. It took me a long time, maybe 150 pages, before I felt any connection to the characters or felt the plots pace was picking up. The very beginning of the novel with the  dark sisters was written very slowly and I found myself quite bored. Thankfully, the book picked up and I found myself enjoying the steady pace of the novel. 

Tessa was an up and down character for me, I found myself loving her one minute and then cringing at her the next. I know the book is set in Victorian England, but Tessa's anti-feminist views and slight stand offish relationship with other women was not my favourite thing to read about. I especially cringed / eye rolled when she said she wanted to move into a flat with her brother and clean the house and cook for him all day long... 

Review: Internment by Samira Ahmed

Publication Date: 07 March 2019
Publisher: Atom Books
Source: Review Copy (#Gifted)

[ Goodreads ]           [ Book Depository ]

Blurb: 

Rebellions are built on hope.
Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's Director and his guards.

Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today. 

 A big thank you to Atom Books for sending me this book in exchange for my full and honest review. 

This is probably one of the most scary and hard hitting books I will read. I found the novel so terrifying as the events unfolding in it could easily begin to happen tomorrow. The novel centers around Layla, a seventeen year old American Muslim whose life is turned upside down when her and her family are shipped off to an internment camp against their will. It is the life inside these internment "anti- Muslim" camps that really make for harrowing reading. 

Review: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Publication Date: September 6th 2012
Publisher: Walker Books
Source: Own
Series: The Mortal Instruments #5 
[See reviews of the other books in the series HERE]

[ Goodreads ]            [ Book Depository ]

Blurb: 
What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

 ** Spoilers ahead for this book and the previous **

I was hesitant getting back into this series as its' been four years or more since I read City of Fallen Angels. But, I was glad to find myself remembering what happened in the previous books quite quickly once I started reading. I did find this reading experience somewhat different than I remember when reading the series when I was younger, but lets explore my thought more! 

So the book picks off from the previous books ending, Jace has been used to resurrect Sebastian and has disappeared. Clary and her friends are desperate to find him and put a stop to Sebastian. 

The plot of this book started off a little slow for me. I think it took a good 50-100 pages for me to get into the plot of the book and feel captivated. The novel focuses around the search for Jace and I found it interesting seeing how his disappearance affects everyone around them and seeing everyone band together in the search for him. I really enjoyed the action aspects of the novel and the suspense around finding the real Jace. 

Review: A Danger To Herself And Others by Alyssa Sheinmel

Publisher: Atom Books
Publication Date: 5th February 2019
Source: Review Copy from Publisher

[ Goodreads ]            [ Book Depository ]

Blurb:

Only when she's locked away does the truth begin to escape...

Seventeen-year-old Hannah Gold has always been treated like a grown up. As the only child of two New York professionals, she's been traveling the world and functioning as a miniature adult since the day she was born. But that was then. Now, Hannah has been checked into a remote treatment facility, stripped of all autonomy and confined to a single room.

Hannah knows there's been a mistake. What happened to her roommate that summer was an accident. As soon as the doctor and judge figure out that she isn't a danger to herself or others, she can get back to her life of promise and start her final year at school. Until then, she's determined to win over the staff and earn some privileges so she doesn't lose her mind to boredom.

But then she's assigned a new roommate. At first, Lucy is the perfect project to keep Hannah's focus off all she is missing at home. But Lucy may be the one person who can make Hannah confront the secrets she's avoiding - and the dangerous games that landed her in confinement in the first place.

A big thank you to Atom Books for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my full and honest review!

This book is definitely one of those books that you pick up to read the first chapter quickly, and then 5 hours later you find yourself still reading it because you can not put it down! As soon as I started reading this book, I hardly wanted to put it down and when I, reluctantly, did - I found myself thinking about it constantly.

A Danger To Herself And Others tells the story of Hannah Gold. A teenager who is mature and academically minded that finds herself in an institution after an incident with her summer school roommate. As Hannah's roommate lies in the hospital, Hannah wonders why she is being kept in this mental institute and when she can leave to return to her studies.

Best Books I Read in 2018

Happy new year everyone! 2018 was a heck of a year for me, from being one of the most stressful years to being one of the happiest- there was some real ups and downs.
This year I graduated from college / university for the final time, traveled a little, went to festivals, had my first job rejection and managed to become a little happier and more positive.
Although there was great ups and downs, the year as a whole was wonderful. I wouldn't change it for the world.

As well as my personal achievements I managed to read some great books this year. I read 46 books, which is more than last year (link) and discovered some great books! I finally feel I am getting back into the swing of reading and blogging and hopefully can keep up a schedule of both for 2019.

Here's my favourites of 2018:

Review: White Rabbit, Red Wolf by Tom Pollock

Publication Date: May 3rd 2018
Publisher: Walker Books
Source: Review Copy from Publisher

[ Goodreads ]          [ Book Depository ] 

Blurb: 

Peter Blankman is afraid of everything and must confront unimaginable terror when his mother is attacked.

Seventeen-year-old Peter Blankman is a maths prodigy. He also suffers from severe panic attacks. Afraid of everything, he finds solace in the orderly and logical world of mathematics and in the love of his family: his scientist mum and his tough twin sister Bel, as well as Ingrid, his only friend. 

However, when his mother is found stabbed before an award ceremony and his sister is nowhere to be found, Pete is dragged into a world of espionage and violence where state and family secrets intertwine. Armed only with his extraordinary analytical skills, Peter may just discover that his biggest weakness is his greatest strength. 

 You know the feeling where you are utterly caught up in a story and its characters you never want it to end? Well that is how I felt while reading this novel. Another huge thank you to Walker books for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for my full honest review. 

This book is the kind of book that swallows you up and then spits you out! The novel centers around Peter, a math genus with severe anxiety disorder. When someone tried to assassinate is mother, his world is thrown into disarray. He must adapt and begin a journey to try to understand just why his world has been thrown into chaos.