The Girl Who Saved The King Of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson - review

From the writer of The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared comes yet another classic.

This book combines sheer reality with humour to give a beautiful combination of comedy and wit.

The story is told in third person, switching from focusing on one character to another, but mostly on a girl named Nombeko and her journey through life.

Nombeko is born at a time when South Africans are discriminated against, in a small shanty town and not a very bright future in front of her; however, this doesn't stop the young girl.

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Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell - review

Meet Ada Goth. She lives in Ghastly-Gorm hall with her father, Lord Goth, lots of servants and at least half a dozen ghosts.

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Where She Went by Gayle Forman - review

Wow! I recently finished Where She Went and it was perfection in my eyes. Maybe even better than If I Stay.

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Endgame: The Calling by James Frey - review

I'm incredibly grateful that I was given the chance to read this book as part of an interview I got the chance to have with James Frey, and I struggled (in a good way) to think of things to say about this book. Endgame definitely quashed a lot of books for me.

Endgame theorises that, in the event of the end of the world, the 12 original lines of humanity must fight against each other to find the earth key.

 All 12 line members are alerted to the start by 12 meteors that land on Earth. Endgame is a puzzle though. Weaved into this book is not only a puzzle for the characters, but also for the reader.

I really can't say anything more about the plot, but this book is fantastic.

On every level. From reading this book, you find out that the effort that James Frey and Nils Johnson Shelton have put into this book is enormous.

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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - review

This book wrenched me out of my chaotic, stressy, unorganised life and into a whole new one; the life of Jacob as he journeys to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. His entire family life is shrouded by a feeling of mystery and almost spookiness.

Yes, I was kept up quite late at night, having a heart attack every time the bed creaked, or even worse, when the Divergent poster fell down on my head. You don't recover from something like that.

You could tell that every part of the book was thought out carefully, which resulted in a generally beautiful thing.

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Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods by Rick Riordan- review

This book is Percy Jackson's view on the Greek gods, the way he learnt about them. He tells you how the earth was made and give an insightful view on all twelve Olympian Gods and his favourite stories about them.

My favourite part is when, at the very end, he tells the reader about the time Dionysus invaded India. He spread the word about wine, of course after halving the population of India, because it is funny and gory.

Read this insightful book on the gods of Olympus, Percy Jackson And The Greek Gods.

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Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne - review

On Alfie's fifth birthday, England declares war on Germany. Life will never be the same again. The very next day, Alfie's Dad signs up, and is gone within a week. Letters come regularly, and Alfie begins to get used to his new routine, with different teachers, different food and a different home life. Then, with no warning, the letters stop.

His Mum Margie tells him that his Dad's on a secret mission for the government, but, now nine, he is clever enough to know that he must be dead.

Now the man of the house, Alfie skips school whenever it's not his favourite subjects (history and reading) to shine shoes at Kings Cross for a penny a pair.

Then one day, while working on a pair of scuffed boots for a doctor, Alfie hears something life changing. His father is in hospital in the UK!Fired up with determination, Alfie catches a train to visit. But what he finds there shocks him to the core, and he decides to help his shell-shocked father escape...

John Boyne will always be remembered as "the one who wrote the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" but, to me, Stay Where You Are and Then Leave is every bit as good. It explores many difficult issues about the war, but from the perspective of a young child.

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Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington - review

The story of a double life. Sabine, a young, intelligent, pretty girl lives two lives, one with a rich family, the other with a working class family. In one life she's the popular girl, the other life she's the unnoticed girl. She swaps through lives each and everyday. Everything is perfectly different, apart from her.

Then when she gets the chance to escape from one of her lives, will she be able to make the right choice or will love's enchantment take over her mind?

A chilling story about two different lives. This book will keep you on your feet, up at night and always wanting more with it's edgy and interesting storyline. It criticises human nature and the way some of us, or a lot if us, deal with and react to situations we are placed in and when things happen to people- how our opinions of them change. How in some cases, even if we feel sympathy for them we don't look at them in the same way and how we can turn on each other in a split second.

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The Giver by Lois Lowry - review and Dowload book free

Pain doesn't exist. Colours don't exist. Only grey does. Jonas, a twelve year old is destined to become a receiver of memory but the qualities just don't seem right for him.

Being the receiver means seeing things beyond what others can see and worst of all, experiencing the pain…


I have always wanted to read this book as the film adaptation came out recently and lots of people in America have been reading it in school.

This is a classic, dystopian Young Adult read. One of the most interesting things about this book is that although it was written in 1993, it has the elements which you would find in a modern YA dystopian book today.

 I felt the Divergent series has a lot of similarities with The Giver. For example, in Divergent you would have to choose a faction to be a part of and in the Giver your job is chosen for you.

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The Iron Trial by Holly Black ; Cassandra Clare - review and dowload free

The Iron Trial is by far one of the most eagerly awaited children's books of Autumn 2014 and it's no surprise, considering its creators are the impressive Cassandra Clare (one of my most favourite authors) and Holly Black. Clare, the writer of The Mortal Instrument series, a global phenomenon and Black, author of the widely popular Spiderwick Chronicle series have collaborated to create a new fantasy series. The Iron Trial is the first of the proposed five in the Magisterium series and is probably suitable for boys and girls aged 10 and up!

The protagonist, Callum Hunt is not an ordinary boy. Unlike many 12 year olds his age Callum doesn't want to go to magic school. All his life, Callum has been told by his father to never trust a magician and to stay away from magic. Callum must face The compulsory Iron Trial, a test to see if he can enter the elusive Magisterium. True to form, Callum doesn't succeed at attempting to fail and is rocketed into a world of magic, underground caves and friendship.

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Yolo by Lauren Myracle - review

Yolo by Lauren Myracle is a great read! Although the story is told through text messages it hooks you in from the very beginning.
Three best friends are facing their first semester apart as they all start different colleges. Not only are the girls separated but Zoe's worried that Doug wants to break up with her because they're at different schools and Maddie's boyfriend Ian is back in Georgia. Meanwhile Angela joins a sorority. Even though the girls are facing change, Maddie's got a plan to keep the friends close and it involves embracing the present, making memories and living in the moment, YOLO!
I was sad that the book ended, you really get to know the best friends and it is very modern especially because the story is told using modern technology. I would recommend this book to teenage girls who are looking for a good friendship story.
I would give this book 4/5 stars.



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Sabriel by Garth Nix- review

If you have recently witnessed the release of Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen, Garth Nix's latest addition to his Old Kingdom series and wanted to read it, but found yourself wondering whether to read his other novels first, I highly recommend you do.

Sabriel was published before I was even born, in 1995. This might be the same for you, dear fellow YA reader. But the absolutely wonderful thing about Nix's books and just about every fantasy novel is that the story, the themes and the morals just don't become irrelevant or out of style, which can be common with contemporary novels. As times change, along with people's interests and way of speech, contemporary novels can begin to feel old, fast. But as you can see from examples like The Lord of the Rings, fantasy remains. Sabriel is just as good a read as any other YA fantasy book released today.

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The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson - review

There are many young adult writers who stick to what they know.

Churning out novel after novel, they dabble in love triangles, "tough life choices", white protagonists, and occasionally, throw in vampires to spice things up a little. You buy their books with the knowledge that you'll receive romance that tries too hard, pretentious metaphors and the mangling of the traditions of different ethnicities and places. Lisa Williamson writes without grace, has a whole host of bland characters and relies on the confused, problematic idea of a strict social hierarchy in secondary school. But man, does Lisa Williamson have guts. It takes guts, to write this kind of book. In this accepting, liberal day and age, it still takes some gumption to write a book about trans teenagers. For that, I applaud her.
So, without further ado, let's talk about The Art of Being Normal.

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The Dangerous Discoveries of Gully Potchard by Julia Lee - review

The Dangerous Discoveries of Gully Potchard is about a 14-year old boy, Gully, who works as a delivery boy at Janner's printers. When he bumps into a childhood bully everything goes wrong. Soon he is in a right pickle, mixed up in a scheme of crime and trickery. How can he get out of this one?
Some of the main characters in this book are Imperia Barnicott or Impey, as everyone calls her, Gully Potchard (of course), Nathan Boldree & co.- the thugs, Whitby Marvel, Gully's cousin who dreams of being a dancer and Agnes Glass, a wealthy girl with a club foot. It is because of these characters that this book reminds me of The Secret Garden. Agnes is like Colin, never let outside because they have been told they are too delicate to budge from their pampered spot indoors. Impey is like Dicken, seeing the sunny side of everything, savouring her very existence even though she is reasonably poor.

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The Worst Thing about my Sister by Jacqueline Wilson review

This book is about two sisters, Marty and Melissa. Marty is a huge tomboy that loves animals. Melissa is a girly girl and wears makeup. Melissa is the oldest by two and a half years. Marty has to move into Melissa's bedroom because their Mum has to have a sewing room. That's when the trouble begins. Every day just turns into a huge argument for them, but then when something bad happens to Melissa Marty does not know what to do.

This book is very exciting and I always found it hard to put down. It was very funny, and sad in some places. If you read this book and you do not have a sister it would tell exactly what it would feel like to have one.

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Zac and Mia by A J Betts - review

Before you immediately view the synopsis of this book and compare it to The Fault in Our Stars, please don't. Yes, they both share the same premise but they are completely different. The Fault in Our Stars is a love story in which the characters happen to have cancer, whereas Zac and Mia is a cancer story where they happen to fall in love. The emphasis of this book is the cancer and the way the characters deal with it-not the love story.

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Title: The Magic of Friendship, By: Subhash Kommuru - Book Review

The Magic of Friendship:

is a delightful allegorical story about a gander that tells his juvenile son about a fierce tiger that incurs fear among all the animals in the Tadoba Forest. While the two prepare a time of celebration with other animals in the forest, they happen to fall upon a serendipitous object lesson. Incorporating themes of bullying and friendship amid the Indian culture, Kommuru's recent book has great potential to connect with children internationally.


Rising children's author Kommuru, has created a story that aptly reflects his promise to always write sensible stories with some moral to them. Additionally, Kommuru, in collaboration with graphic artist Ross, grabs the attention of young readers around the world from the get go by first introducing every child's well-loved story characters: animals. Ross's depictions deftly capture personalities that children can easily associate with in the bullying Babbar (a tiger), the lighthearted but fearful Hasmukh (a donkey), the prankish Ullu (an owl), the wise Captain (a gander), and the curious Chotu (his son).

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