REVIEW 'Fangirl' by Rainbow Rowell

'Fangirl' by Rainbow Rowell

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Cath and Wren are identical twins, and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they're off to university and Wren's decided she doesn't want to be one half of a pair any more - she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It's not so easy for Cath. She's horribly shy and has always buried herself in the fan fiction she writes, where she always knows exactly what to say and can write a romance far more intense than anything she's experienced in real life.

Now Cath has to decide whether she's ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she's realizing that there's more to learn about love than she ever thought possible ...

A tale of fanfiction, family, and first love."



5*****

Hi Elementareaders!

‘Fangirl’ by Rainbow Rowell is a young adult contemporary novel following a girl named Cath on her first year at college. I’m a bit late on the bandwagon with this book (I’ve seen people talking about it online for years!) but I finally grabbed a copy to read, and I freaking loved it!

Cather and Wren are twin sisters from Nebraska. Their whole lives they have done everything together, including going to the same college, but Wren wants to branch out an make new friends meaning that she doesn’t want to share a room with Cath. ‘Fangirl’ follows Cath as she makes her way through her first year of college without being beside her sister. Cath is shy and socially awkward, and would rather spend her evenings in her room writing fanfiction than out partying. Cath is a huge fan of ‘Simon Snow’, a series of books about a young magician, and she writes a very popular fanfiction that has thousands of readers. She aspires to be a writer and is studying English Lit and Fiction Writing.

Cath’s roommate Reagan is her opposite. She doesn’t spend much time in their room and is always out with her boyfriend, which suits Cath just fine, but she also gets the feeling that Reagan doesn’t like her. Reagan’s boyfriend Levi, on the other hand, won’t leave Cath alone and keeps finding excuses to hang out with her. He particularly enjoys when she reads her Simon Snow fanfiction to him.

Cath faces countless teen troubles throughout her year; being apart from her sister, being accused a plagiarism in her Fiction Writing class only to get a story that she has worked on stolen, and her ever increasing feelings for Levi.

This was such a fantastic book! I loved the plot and the writing style was so easy to read that I read the whole book in a couple of days. The characters are fantastic, especially Cath and Levi.

I see a lot of myself in Cath and find her very relatable. She has social anxiety (like me) and she is quite shy and withdrawn. In fact, she spent the first month of college living off protein bars because she didn’t know where the dining hall was and was too anxious to ask anyone. One of my favourite quotes from the book is “I'm the kind of girl who fantasizes about being trapped in a library overnight.” That just pretty much sums up the life of every book nerd. In fact, there are so many FANTASTIC quotes from this book that it’d take an entire blog post for me to list them all.

Rainbow really gets what it’s like to be part of a fandom and that comes across so strongly in the writing. She understand that fanfiction isn’t just a silly hobby undertaken by crazy fans, but is in fact a form of literature and a great creative outlet for fans. I don’t write fanfiction myself but I have read some, and some of the things you can find online are amazing works of literature.

I had a major book hangover after finishing ‘Fangirl’. It was so incredible that I just want to read more. I want to hear about Cath’s second year in college. Her third. And what she does after. In fact, if Rainbow were to write about the rest of her life in epic detail I would lap up the whole thing. I would also LOVE to read more about Simon Snow. The excerpts at the end of each chapter really made me want to read more about the World of Mages.

This really was a fantastic book and I’ll definitely be reading more by this author in the future! I would recommend to any book nerd (teen or adult) who loves a good story with fantastic characters.


I would give this book 5 stars :)


Places to buy:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide!)
Audible.com

Follow Rainbow Rowell on:
rainbowrowell.com
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

REVIEW 'Username: Evie' by Joe Sugg

'Username: Evie' by Joe Sugg

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Like anyone who feels as though they just don't fit in, Evie dreams of a place of safety. When times are tough, all she wants is a chance to escape from reality and be herself.

Despite his failing health, Evie's father comes close to creating such a virtual idyll. Passing away before it's finished, he leaves her the key in the form of an app, and Evie finds herself transported to a world where the population is influenced by her personality. Everyone shines in her presence, until her devious cousin, Mallory, discovers the app... and the power to cause trouble in paradise. "






5*****

Hey Elementareaders!

‘Username: Evie’ is a fantasy graphic novel by the YouTuber Joe Sugg (ThatcherJoe). Joe was one of the first people I ever watched on YouTube and I absolutely adore his videos. I was so excited when I heard he was creating a graphic novel, and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

Evie is an outsider. She doesn’t have many friends in school and is bullied by her cousin Mallory. Her mother died when she was very young and her dad is ill too. Poor Evie wants to just escape her life, and sometime shuts herself in the fridge after school to get away (not the best idea, so don’t try that at home!) She is always reassured when she gets home to hear her father, a software pioneer, typing on his computer, but one day she gets home and everything is quiet. She finds that her father has passed away, and Evie is shunted off to her cousin’s house with no time to grieve before Mallory starts making her life hell.

But Evie finds a way out. On her laptop she notices an app called E.scape. She doesn’t know where it has come from, but when she clicks on it a video message from her dad plays saying that he has created this app to help Evie escape her normal life. Suddenly, Evie is transported into a virtual world, a world created entirely for her where her decisions and actions influence everything. Unbeknown to Evie, whilst she is exploring, Mallory finds the app and is whizzed away into the virtual world too. But Mallory brings with her a bad attitude and her influence soon throws the world into chaos; the people becoming monsters and fire and destruction everywhere.


Only Evie can stop the destruction. The race is on to find a way to stop it, and get out of the world before she is trapped there forever!

I’d been anticipating this book for so long. Ever since Joe announced it was happening, before even a vague description of the story was mentioned, I’d been waiting for it and eagerly lapping up any snippets and clues about the story along the way. Joe is one of my favourite YouTubers and he has such a vivid imagination that I knew anything coming out of his head would be pure gold. When the cover and blurb were finally released my excitement grew even more. I absolutely love this genre, and the graphic novel format. The image of Evie on the cover is just spectacular and just by looking at it I knew she would be a fantastic character.

And I was certainly not disappointed! This book was so brilliant. The storyline, characters, artwork; everything was just great. Evie is such a fantastic character and I think she is very relatable for a lot of young girls. I think most people at some point in their lives have felt like her, like an outsider with no means of escape. This novel really grabs onto to that idea of wanting to escape by creating a whole new virtual world, but it also really sends the message that eventually you have to go back to your real life. Evie’s virtual world was designed to help her to become a better version of herself for when she did come out of the simulation.



“Be proud of who you are, and never lose sight of the fact that you are loved” ‘Username: Evie’ pg 30.

The above quote is my favourite from the whole book. I love the message that it sends, that you should be yourself, be proud, and know that someone out there loves you. I think this is such an important message especially for the age group this book is aimed at. I wish someone had said that to me when I was in school some 8 years ago, and I know a lot of Joe’s fans are teenagers.

This book was so visually stunning that sometimes I found myself staring at one page for ages. The artwork and colouring (by Amrit Birdi and Joaquin Pereyra) was so fantastic. I particularly liked the double-page landscapes on the “Part 1”, “Part 2” and “Part 3” pages showing how the beautiful world Evie’s father created gradually went from idyllic to disastrous.

 I particularly enjoyed the fact that Evie lived in a house with a thatched roof, a nice little reference to Joe’s former job as a roof thatcher. I also had a little giggle at the fact that one of the characters was called Jaspar (if you watch Joe’s videos you’ll know why :p)


All in all I thought this was a fantastic debut book by Joe for both young people and adults alike. I would really recommend it to anyone who likes the idea of online worlds and virtual realities. I hope Joe produces more work like this in the future, as I’m sure he has plenty more fun ideas roaming around in his head!


I would give this book 5 stars :)


Places to buy:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide!)

Find Joe Sugg on:
YouTube
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

REVIEW 'A Brief Stay at Earth Human Camp' by Marie C. Collins

Image from Goodreads.com

'A Brief Stay at Earth Human Camp' by Marie C. Collins

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Once you find out your mother is an alien, what ISN’T possible? 

That’s what 12-year-old Anne and 10-year-old Atticus Reade want to know. Minutes after learning that their mother is from the planet Farbookonia and that their parents’ secret project has put them all in danger, the children are wrenched from their sheltered existence in the Midwest and whisked off to sleep-away camp in New Jersey — each with a tiny, protective “Globot” on one shoulder.
Painfully aware they’re not like the others at camp, Anne and Atticus do their best to fit in while concealing their alien background and the “special talents” that go with it. But everything is so new to them, they have a hard time sorting reality from fiction. Quirky campers, campfire ghost stories, a bizarre camp director, Anne’s mysterious dreams, and Atticus’s unusual animal encounters are all equally disturbing.
Just as they start getting the hang of life among young Earth humans, a broadcast on the Rec Hall TV shakes things up, and things that are truly strange emerge from normal newness. It turns out Anne and Atticus — and their new friends — may not be safe at camp after all. A Brief Stay at Earth Human Camp thrusts them into a reality they wish was fiction."

5*****

(This review may contain some small spoilers as I got excited and went into a fair bit of detail about the plot. Oops! Nothing that will really ruin it though :))

Hi Elementareaders!

‘A Brief Stay at Earth Human Camp’ by Marie C. Collins is a middle-grade sci-fi adventure about a pair of half-human, half-alien siblings trying to fit in at an American summer camp. Marie kindly sent me an e-copy to read and review.

Anne and Atticus Reade believe they are perfectly normal human children until they are suddenly told by their parents that their mother, Cameo, is actually an extra-terrestrial being from the planet Farbookonia. True, their upbringing has been very unconventional; living way out in the countryside, home-schooled, and never having had contact with anyone other than each other, their parents and Friday, their housekeeper, but they had no reason to believe that wasn’t normal. Plus they have special gifts, Anne can performs tasks with super speed and Atticus can communicate with animals. But these children’s lives are turned upside-down when their parents confess the truth, and proclaim that their scientific research is under threat, meaning that they will have to jet off to a secret lab, leaving Anne and Atticus at a summer camp for three weeks. The children are thrust out of their secluded lives and will have to fit in with other kids their age, which means learning how to behave and not using their special gifts. To help them out, their father has made them a small holographic being each (Globots) that only they can see and hear. Bella (for Anne) and Huck (for Atticus) sit on their shoulders and give advice about how to behave and what to say.

Anne and Atticus’s first impressions of Earth humans are not great. Upon arriving at camp they are split up. Anne, at 12 years old is put in the Bobcats cabin, and Atticus, at 10 is put in the Timber Rattlesnakes cabin. And the kids assigned to take them to their bunks, Arianna and Max, are not very friendly. They soon make friends, however, with their bunk mates Maylin and Nicola, and before long are welcomed into the group.

They find Bella and Huck’s information very handy, but a few days in both the Globots have malfunctioned, leaving Anne and Atticus entirely on their own. But their instincts click in, and with the help of their new friends they both have a fantastic time.

But there’s trouble in paradise. A few days in the Camp Director, Aunt Maddie, mysteriously vanishes leaving a new director in her place. The new Madam Director acts very strangely, not joining in with activities and yelling ‘YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE’ at anyone who goes near the old ruins near camp. Another camper, Benedek, is also acting weird and clinging on to the bully, Max. Things go from bad to worse when Max is poisoned and the nurse ends up in a weird coma state that she won’t wake from. Anne and Atticus believe their parents may be involved, and this is to do with their research… involving robots! Now the kids have to save Aunt Maddie and everyone else in camp before Parents Day!

This was such a fantastic, FANTASTIC book! I enjoyed every sentence from start to finish, and even though it’s pretty long for a middle-grade book I was so disappointed when it ended. I loved the writing style. It was very conversational and easy to read that I found it almost impossible to look away from my screen and read the whole book in only a few sittings.

Anne and Atticus are both brilliant characters and I loved seeing the world from their point of view. We don’t have camps like this in the UK so I was just as in the dark about what goes on as these children were. I think the maps and camp schedule at the beginning of the book were a really nice touch, and it was great to go back to them throughout to get a really good idea of where everything was.

I love how this book mixed the adventure and sci-fi. The alien aspect was great, but the real sci-fi element came from the robots. I really didn’t see it coming!

This truly was a brilliant read and I’d recommend it to kids aged 10+ and adults who love a great story with fantastic characters. I’m looking forward to reading more of Marie’s work in the future. The way this book ended makes me think there’s opportunity for a sequel, so I really hope that happens as I would love to read more about these characters and the Farbookonians!


I would give this book 5 stars :)


Places to buy:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide!)

Follow Marie C. Collins on:
secretsoffarbookonia.com
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Goodreads

REVIEW 'How I Live Now' by Meg Rosoff

'How I Live Now' by Meg Rosoff

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. 

But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way."




5*****

Hi Elementareaders!

‘How I Live Now’ by Meg Rosoff is a dystopian novel set in the near future that follows the journey of a group of children through a world war three scenario.

Daisy is a fifteen-year-old American girl from a broken home. Her mother died when she was young and she doesn’t get on very well with her father and step-mother. With a new baby on the way, Daisy’s father sends her off to live with her aunt and cousins in England, where he believes she will be safer from the impending war.

Upon arriving in England, Daisy is surprised to find that her cousin Edmond, who is only fourteen, will be driving her back to their farm and that he smokes cigarettes. It turns out that her Aunt Penn is constantly engrossed in her work and barely leaves her study. Arriving back at what will be her new home, Daisy is introduced to the rest of her cousins; Isaac, Edmond’s twin brother, Osbert, the eldest at sixteen-years-old, and Piper, the youngest and only girl who is nine. Daisy finds it difficult to fit in at first, especially with her eating disorder. Life on the farm is so different from New York, quieter, slower-paced, and as Aunt Penn isn’t around much she has to grow up fast.

Shortly after Daisy arrives, Aunt Penn has to go to Oslo, Norway for a few days for work. But while she is gone the dreaded war finally breaks out and all air travel into the UK is stopped, meaning that she can’t get home and the children will have to manage on their own. They start off by moving to the old lambing barn, and spend their days fishing, swimming and growing food. During this time Daisy becomes much closer to her cousins, particularly Edmond. But before long they are found living alone, and are split up; the boys sent to one place, and Piper and Daisy to another. ‘How I Live Now’ is the heart-wrenching tale of how Daisy and Piper survive the war-ridden country, trying to make it back to the farm and the boys.

I saw the film adaptation of this book a few years back and I really enjoyed it. I loved the storyline, characters and whole aspect of the world it was set in. I recently found a copy of the book and fell in love with the story all over again. There are some major differences between the book and the film, but the general story is the same and both are fantastic!

I adore Daisy as a character. She is quite withdrawn and finds it difficult to trust, which makes it all the more heart-breaking when she falls so in love with her cousins, then has them torn away from her. Piper is also an amazing character. She’s just so unbelievably cute!

I love the story and the journey that these characters went on. The world war three scenario is so scarily realistic that it’s not difficult to imagine yourself in Daisy’s shoes. I think the thing that makes it so real is that this could happen at any time. But I found it wonderful that the story centered so tightly around this group of children and that we saw it entirely through Daisy’s eyes. The only information the reader gets comes from her, which is most apparent when they refer to the Enemy. They don’t know who it is or what the war is even really about and the reader is just as in the dark as the characters, but this works so well with the idea and writing style, and is just perfect.

Meg Rosoff’s style of writing is so unique. I really like how it is written almost like Daisy’s diary, and how it is prose all the way through. In fact, until part two near the end I don’t think there is a single speech mark, which is unusual but it works incredibly well. The language is so conversational and very easy to read.

I’ll definitely be reading more of Meg’s books in the future!


I would give this book 5 stars :)


Places to buy:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide!)
Audible.com

Follow Meg Rosoff on:
megrosoff.co.uk
Twitter
Goodreads

REVIEW 'Penetrated on Ponetown' & 'Boned on Bluecreek' by Moxie Darling

'Penetrated on Ponetown' by Moxie Darling

Goodreads Synopsis:

"On a mission to bring the love of literacy to impoverished rural children, Clover Willoughby finds herself stranded on a dry, dusty West Virginia back road. Out of gas, out of service, and out of patience, she starts walking. When she stumbles across a quaint cabin in the woods, she's relieved at her good fortune. Her relief turns to trepidation—and anticipation—when the rough, crude mountain man living there offers to assist her . . . for a price. And he's not interested in money.

(Disclaimer: this novella is for adults only. It contains explicit sex scenes, rough sex, ménage situations, sex with strangers, and taboo elements that some might find offensive.)"

'Boned on Bluecreek' by Moxie Darling

Goodreads Synopsis:

"When Willow Spencer receives an intriguing letter from her best friend, she heads to West Virginia with only a suitcase and a lust for adventure. Agreeing to live with a man you’ve never met and be nanny to his three children is a little dangerous and a lot of crazy. In other words? Just what she needs. A wild child at heart, Willow leaves life as she knows it behind without a backwards glance. But when she arrives at the rundown trailer deep in backwoods territory and meets the rough, practically mute mountain man who seems immune to her flirtatious charm, she begins to doubt her decision and her sanity. 

(Disclaimer: this novella is for adults only. It contains explicit sex scenes, rough sex, sex with strangers, and sexual situations some might find offensive.)"


THIS REVIEW IS FOR BOTH NOVELLAS


4****

Hi Elementareaders!

‘Penetrated on Ponetown’ and ‘Boned on Bluecreek’ are two erotic novellas by Moxie Darling. I don’t usually read anything in this genre, but Moxie was kind enough to send me e-copies of her novellas to read and review.

‘Penetrated on Ponetown’ begins with Clover Willoughby, a girl in her twenties, travelling on the back roads of West Virginia trying to find the Barlow’s house to teach Mr Barlow’s three young children to read as part of her library’s Rural Literacy Outreach program. But Clover soon finds herself out of gas in the middle of nowhere. She sets out on foot to try and find some signs of civilisation, and after a mile and a half she comes across a long, winding driveway which leads to a small cabin. Unfortunately the men who live there, Jim and his son Eustace, don’t have any electricity, so no phone for her to call for help, but do have gas for her car. They aren’t interested in conventional payment, however. They want Clover. Jim especially wants her for his son, who has never been with a woman. Clover, being from a hippie commune, in unabashed by sex and agrees to stay with them for a week, pleasuring both men. But she begins to develop feelings for the young, awkward Eustace and isn’t sure she’ll want to leave once the week is up…

‘Boned on Bluecreek’ takes place a little while after. Clover’s friend, Willow Spencer, is driving to her new workplace where she is to be nanny to the widowed Teddy Barlow’s three children. Upon arriving she sees that the Barlow’s house is little more than an old trailer in a state of disrepair. Teddy, a mechanic, isn’t Willow’s usual type but when she meets him she is very taken with his rough exterior and intimidating personality. Willow decides to make it her mission to help Teddy get over his late wife by offering her body to him. Teddy is rather reluctant however, but the more time she spends with him, Willow whittles him down and gets to know the man underneath the cold exterior.

As I mentioned before, I don’t normally read this genre so I didn’t really know that to expect (other than the obvious!) I have to say though that I really enjoyed both stories!

These novellas very well written and I found myself well and truly wrapped up in the stories of these two young girls. Clover and Willow were very interesting characters, both coming from a hippie commune they were very free with their bodies, but what I found most interesting was how they came to really care for the men and even fall in love.

Both books were very good, quick reads for adults and I would recommend to anyone looking for a fun summer read. Thank you Moxie!


I would give both books 4 stars :)


Places to buy:
Amazon UK (PoP)
Amazon UK (BoB)
Amazon US (PoP)
Amazon US (BoB)

Follow Moxie Darling on:
moxiedarling.blogspot.com
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