GIRL IN PIECES BOOK REVIEW!!

GIRL IN PIECES BY KATHLEEN GLASGOW BOOK REVIEW

SYNOPSIS:

Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The broken glass washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.
Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge.
A deeply moving portrait of a teenage girl on the verge of losing herself and the journey she must take to survive in her own skin, Kathleen Glasgow’s debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It’s a story you won’t be able to look away from.

MY THOUGHTS:

This book blew me away. I have so many thoughts and feelings about this book that this review could go on forever if I wanted it to but to keep it short and sweet and spoiler free I will do my best not to keep you for too long.

The main character of this story Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Davis, was very different to a character that I have read before. When we first meet Charlie I immediately found her to be very raw in everything that came out of her mouth and that she had no filter. Charlie’s character development was phenomenal and I really enjoyed watching her mould into the character that she became at the end of the novel.

Kathleen also wove in many different sensitive topics to this book that I found to be very informed and real life and aren’t talked about much in books especially in YA. Kathleen talked about self harm in a way that made me feel more informed and more aware of some of the things that happen in society that I didn’t feel as informed about before I read this book. I also found it really interesting to be in Charlie’s head and to know how she felt as she was going through her self harm recovery.

I also really loved the character of Riley, yes he was very toxic and I know I shouldn’t have loved him as much as I did but I couldn’t help but have hope for him that maybe one day he would heal and accept himself for everything that he has done in his past.

Overall, Girl in Pieces was a beautifully woven masterpiece that I loved every second of. The writing was very raw and poetic and told the story of Charlie and some really unique side characters that I also grew to love. I do want to note that this book may have trigger warnings and if you don’t do well with self harm I would be a little wary going into this book but I can tell you that it is a beautiful book with a very touching story line. I would really recommend this to those that loved Jennifer Niven’s book All the Bright Places!

PS – I NEED AN EPILOGUE OR A SEQUEL AHHHHH

BUY HERE:  http://www.bookdepository.com/Girl-in-Pieces-Kathleen-Glasgow/9781780749457?ref=grid-view

THE CHOSEN ONE – THE MEDORAN CHRONICLES COMPETITON

HEY GUYS!!

I’m entering to be the chosen one to be the first to see the third book in The Medoran Chronicles DRAEKORA’s cover!

These books have a very big meaning to me and they are one of my favourite books ever. Akarnae was the first ever book that I received to review which then lead to me becoming the book reviewer that I am today. I’m so thankful for that email that I got from Pantera asking me if I wanted to review Akarnae.

Lynette Noni was also the first author I ever met – ever since I met her back in 2015 just after Akarnae had just come out, Lynette is one of my favourite people and she is very sweet and very approachable. I’m so thankful to have met Lynette again this year which also lead to me being able to do an interview with her and one of my amazing friends Kaysia who also has the same passion for Lynette’s books as I do.

I also love the story because I fell in love with the whole world that Lynette has created and found her writing to be very easy to read and the writing created magical and vivid images that I adore and wish I could visit!

Alex, Jordan and Bear were all fun and quirky characters to read about to and I love them to pieces and could read about their adventures forever. Alex I could really relate to and at times I found myself thinking that I was her and could feel emotions that she would be feeling if she were real.

Thank you so much for Pantera Press for hosting this amazing competition!

#THECHOSENONE

#DRAEKORA

INTERVIEW WITH JANE ABBOTT

Hey Guys! Today I have a very exciting post to share with you guys, I got the chance to interview the lovely Jane Abbott, who is the author of Elegy which has just released with Penguin Random House!

What inspired you to write Elegy, and how did you come up with the plot?

I wanted to write a story about love, in all its forms. For centuries, maybe longer, people have been uplifted by stories of love and courage, whether they’re well-known legends, plays, poems or sagas. And, in so many cases, those stories have been taken from something before it, adapted and retold. I thought it would be fun to explore that idea: the stories that so move us are simply reincarnations of one original story; of a couple fated to live, and to love, over and over again. I’m not a plotter, so it was a case of introducing each character and seeing what happened, and why. The only thing I was sure about was how it had to end, and I actually wrote the beginning, then the ending, before going back to fill in the rest. It made perfect sense that the characters would be young, because there is such vibrancy and passion in young love, as there is in young hate; a passion that sadly ebbs, or at least quietens, as you get older.

Who are some people that you find inspiring in life, and what aspects do you most admire about them?

My mother, who raised four kids single-handedly at a time when divorce was not as common as it is now; various friends who haven’t experienced the relative good fortune that I have, yet who manage to get more out of a single day than I ever will. Carers, Lollipop men and women, teachers, nurses, all of them looking out for others. They’re the ones who inspire me because, for the most part, they do what they do without expectation of praise or reward. The unsung heroes, whose stories are rarely known.

If you were to cast the characters in Elegy for a movie, who would you cast and why?

Ooh, that’s a good one! If they weren’t all grown up and so damned famous, I think the Hemsworth boys would have been perfect. Can you picture Chris Hemsworth as Gabe? I sure can! But for the rest, I just don’t know. It’s not something I’ve ever really considered. Perhaps it’s a question others can answer better than I can.

Where do you write your novels? Are you the kind that listens to music while you write or do you have anything that you always do each time you write?

I wrote Elegy and Watershed in the same year (2013) in a lovely studio over my garage. We’ve since moved, so I’m looking forward to finding a new hideaway. When everything’s going well, and the ideas and the words are flowing, I tend to get up very early (about 4am) and write until breakfast, then again until about 4pm. I never write at night, and I never have any kind of music playing, or other distractions like social media, while I’m working. Then the next morning, I’ll spend an hour editing the previous day’s work before beginning the next bit. It’s a routine that’s worked well so far and, though I’m taking a break for the moment, one I’m looking forward to re-establishing.

What tips would you give to those that want to become an author but don’t know where to start?

Look around. There are thousands of stories out there just waiting to be told, but not all are easy to tell. Think outside the square, and once you have even a kernel of an idea (it doesn’t have to be the whole story, or anything close to it) start getting it down. And don’t stop until the idea stops. I was 48 when I wrote Elegy. There is no time limit on creativity.

How long did it take for you to write Elegy and was it an easy book to complete?

The first draft of Elegy took me eight weeks to write. I think it was about 90,000 words, and even though the first third and the last haven’t changed all that much since, the rest was a bit of a mess. I’d written it in first person – 5 different voices – and in one draft (the third, I think) I changed the whole thing to present tense. There was a lot of experimentation, and I relied on the patience of a few good people to read successive drafts and not unfriend me. In many ways it was an incredibly easy book to write because it deals with so many things I love – mythology and fantasy – and the setting was a joy to write because I could draw from experience. In other ways, it was very hard to find the balance between the characters and work out the best way for them to tell their stories.

What is your favorite book that you have read this year and why?

I really loved Skylarking, by Kate Mildenhall, and I’m not usually a reader of historical fiction. But it’s so beautifully written, and the descriptive language is superb, so I’d have to say that it’s been my favourite so far. But I’ve just started Nutshell, by Ian McEwan, and though I’m not far into it it’ll probably go to the top of my list. Simply amazing!

  

BUY ELEGY HERE: https://penguin.com.au/books/elegy-9780143781592

THE CROWN’S GAME REVIEW!!!

THE CROWN’S GAME BY EVELYN SKYE BOOK REVIEW!

SYNOPSIS:

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip-smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love…or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear—the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

MY THOUGHTS:

This book was pretty good, it was better than I was expecting it to be however I wouldn’t say it was one of my favourite books ever, however it was fairly enjoyable.

One of the things that I just couldn’t get my head around in this book is the love triangle, I’ve read so many books with love triangles but there comes a time where enough is enough. I mean I loved both of the guys in the love triangle, I just wished that there wasn’t a love triangle as they have just become your stereotypical YA romance. Lets also not get into the insta love….

I did however love the magical aspects of this book, they really intrigued me at times and I found that they were well wrote, however I did find that the story took a long time to get into and  progress and I found myself getting a little bored but was told it would get better the more I read.

This book was fairly action packed though, I found that when there was action happening that it was kickass and interesting. I also found that there was a nice contrast between the funny lines of the book but there was also some serious lines and scenes.

Overall, I would say this book was alright, the characters and the setting were for the most fairly intriguing and I really liked the magical aspect of it. I would recommend this to all those that love magical, reads and if this does sound intriguing to you I would give it a go!

STAR RATING: 3.5/ 5 STARS

BUY HERE: http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780062422583/the-crowns-game/