That review thing: ‘And Then We Ran’ by Katy Cannon

A book about two young people getting married as a means of escape. Yes. Yes it is.

And let me tell you now: it’s pretty darn glorious.

Review: Seven Days of You by Cecelia Vinesse

I ❤ Japan.

Ok, so I’ve never been so I cannot know for sure. But I love what I’ve seen and heard about it, and one day (hopefully sooner rather than later) I will go there. So this ingrained adoration of Japan, and especially Tokyo, was what drew me to this book. Was it everything I hoped for?

The One Memory of Flora Banks will get truly stuck in your head!

This was both an easy and difficult review to write. You ever read a book that fills you with so many thoughts and feels that it would be impossible to get them all down? Yeah. It was one of those…

Maresi will give you life.

I tried to think of something witty for the title of this review. But as I’m writing this I’m half way to a food coma on Christmas Day and I just… *sigh* I HAVE NO PUNS! So let’s just imagine I thought of a really witty, fierce and storm-related title. Just close your eyes and pretend.

Cool, we there? Then I’ll begin. Maresi is life changing.

On finally reading The Hunger Games – What took me so long?!

Yep, I’m one of THOSE people. The ones that are a little bit embarrassed and often resort to being very non committal in conversations about the big fandoms… because we haven’t read them.

And not having read something as HUGE as The Hunger Games feels like it’s probably a crime in the world of YA. So first of I’m legitimately sorry it has taken me this long to read this book (oh yes, because I still have 2 books to go… I’m getting there, ok?) Secondly, I need to talk about Katniss, and Peeta, k?

How a couple of middle-of-the-road books can seriously break your stride

Reading slumps are real, yo. And sure, when you’re riding high after finishing with a five star read, it’s hard to imagine you’ll EVER have trouble picking up a book ever again.

Well. You’re wrong. All it takes is for that whim of a book you’ve picked up (hey look, jaunty cover, cool concept, a little out of my normal comfort zone, what could go wrong?) to be an absolute fail and suddenly the mere thought of trying to dig through your TBR to find the right read fills you with a kind of sickness.

READING SLUMPS SUCK!

‘The Call’ is hands down one of the best books of the year

It’s not often that a book completely grips me. I think it’s more to do with right place and right time, you know? Like, all the planets must be aligned or some crap. It’s a bit of careful choosing and a lot of luck. But I was kinda digging Peadar O’Guilin’s ‘The Call’ from the moment I heard about it.

In fact, I think I almost begged my friend Sophie for her proof copy. HA! I’m not beneath begging when I get a feeling about a book. 

‘Dirt’ – Inspired by Dawn Kurtagich’s ‘The Creeper Man’

What am I?
A small fissure? A crack
in the floorboards, a knot-hole
expanding into a yawning gap.

This is my life in dirt.
Disturbed topsoil,
agitated ash. And I dig deep
to find nothing but desperate sighs.

I see it in him too. Blurring the edges;
the boy with fruit in his pockets
and apples in his eyes.
He wants me to stay visible.

Is this the last time I shall write this?
He is coming, not the boy, the man,
even though he’s got his pound of flesh
(rolls it with a sickening stickiness
along the grooves in my fractured forehead)

he wants more. Creeper.
His fingers in my throat and I can’t eat.
I gag. And wait for remembrance.

So, apparently I only finished one book in July. WTF?

I wasn’t even in a reading slump though, was I?

Was I in a slump without even realising it? Is that possible?

In which I FINALLY started reading ‘The Raven Cycle’ by Maggie Stiefvater

It seemed almost a crime that I was heading towards YALC and I still hadn’t read a Maggie Stiefvater book. I know. It’s disgusting, isn’t it?

But it’s ok! I sorted my life out and made a start on The Raven Cycle to see what all the fuss was about.