REVIEW 'The Lost Kodas' by Myra King

'The Lost Kodas' (Apley Towers #1) by Myra King

Goodreads Synopsis:

"In the shade of the Giant's Throne Mountain, and on the coast of the Indian Ocean, Port St. Christopher is home to Apley Towers; a riding school for girls and boys, young or old, who learn what it means to be a true horse rider.Kaela and Trixie call Apley Towers their Neverland. It's the best place in the world - a place for friendship, laughter and learning. But when both girls take on more responsibilities than they can handle, they have to make some tough choices that take a toll on their friendship.Will they have to sacrifice Apley in the end? It takes a girl on the other side of the world to remind them of what's important and that challenges are there to be overcome."





4****

Hi Elementareaders!

‘Apley Towers, The Lost Kodas’ by Myra King is the first in a series of middle-grade novels about a riding school in South Africa. I received a free copy of this book to read and review via Goodreads Giveaways.

Apley Towers is a riding school deep in the heart of South Africa. It is run by Wendy, who moved from England to Africa to set up her own school. Kaela Willoughby and her best friend Trixie King are a pair of teenage girls who learnt to ride at the school and are still having lessons in the intermediate classes. When Wendy has to go to Cape Town for a while she asks Kaela and Trixie to take over teaching the beginner’s class for a bit. Kaela accepts on behalf of both of them, but as Trixie has a longer journey to the stables Kaela has to do most of the teaching on her own. To add to the workload, a mother of one of the beginner riders asks Kaela to help put on a show jumping competition at the riding school. Kaela says they will do it, but the extra work puts a strain on her friendship with Trixie. Kaela has also recently befriended a girl names Phoenix who lives in Canada, and Trixie is battling her jealousy with having to share her best friend.

The two friends also have a lot of pressure from school to contend with. Kaela is hoping to be accepted on to a writing course but is told that she needs to do more extracurricular activities and worries that she will have to cut down on her riding to do something else. Meanwhile, Trixie is trying to persuade her parents and teachers that she will be able to take seven subjects next year instead of the required six as she wants to take all the sciences to keep her options open. The extra work though, may mean giving up riding.

The girls have all this to worry about, their friendship is on the rocks and they have a show jumping contest to organise in only a few weeks. Can they make it a success?

I thought this was a charming little book. I enjoyed the story and the writing style. The text is nice an simple and easy for young teens to read but is also very well structured and gets the story across really well.

I don’t know much about horse riding myself. The closest I’ve come to it is a pony ride/walk at a farm when I was about 7. I remember being so terrified that I almost passed out as I was a very small child and the pony seemed massive. But I do have a few friends who ride and I think horses are really beautiful creatures, as long as I don’t have to get too close to them!

I loved the fact that this was set in South Africa. I’ve never been there but from what I’ve read and seen about it, it seems like such a magical place. I enjoyed the characters in this book, especially Kaela and Phoenix. I was great seeing these two characters from such different parts of the world interacting and listening to each other’s stories with such awe. I also loved the interview with the author at the back.

I would definitely recommend this book to 10-15 year olds who love horses, but I think that older readers can enjoy it too.


I would give this book 4 stars :)


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

Find Myra King on:
Twitter
Goodreads

REVIEW 'The Maker of Swans' by Paraic O'Donnell

'The Maker of Swans' by Paraic O'Donnell

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Mr Crowe was once the toast of the finest salons. A man of learning and means, he travelled the world, enthralling all who met him.

Now, Mr Crowe devotes himself to earthly pleasures. He has retreated to his sprawling country estate, where he lives with Clara, his mysterious young ward, and Eustace, his faithful manservant. His great library gathers dust and his once magnificent gardens grow wild.

But Mr Crowe and his extraordinary gifts have not been entirely forgotten. When he acts impetuously over a woman, he attracts the attention of Dr Chastern, the figurehead of a secret society to which Crowe still belongs. Chastern comes to Crowe’s estate to call him to account, and what follows will threaten everyone he cares for. But Clara possesses gifts of her own, gifts whose power she has not yet fully grasped. She must learn to use them quickly, if she is to save them all."

4****

Hello Elementareaders!

‘The Maker of Swans’ by Paraic O’Donnell is a historical novel with a slightly paranormal twist. I was sent a free proof copy of this book to read and review through Goodreads Giveaways.

Mr Crowe lives in a large, grand house with his young ward Clara and his manservant, Eustace. The story begins with a murder, and although gunshots were fired the man seems to have died of something else. It appears that Mr Crowe has used some sort of power, and his misuse of it means that there will be terrible consequences.

Clara is mute. As an avid reader and writer, she communicates only through the written word. She has full run of the house and grounds where she has many adventures and she writes about anything and everything. Mr Crowe is always nice to her, but she has a much deeper bond with Eustace, who would do anything to protect her. She is a very observant youngster and notices that something is going on when the house is suddenly overrun with extra staff who all seems to be preparing for a guest.

Eustace has hired extra staff to help get the house ready, including the Crouch brothers who pose as gardeners, but are in fact extra muscle in case things go wrong. The unwanted guest they are expecting is dangerous and Eustace will stop at nothing to make sure that he doesn’t hurt Clara.

For the first half of the book the chapters alternate between Eustace and Clara’s point of view. They both see the same events from a different perspective and it was great to read through the eyes of both the old and the young.  The format changes slightly after the first half when something major happens (I won’t say what it is as I don’t want to spoil it!), and in the second half we also have flashbacks to one of the character’s past.

This book is definitely not easy-going. The language is tricky and there are some very complex conversations and passages of text that you need to really concentrate on whilst reading. But if you put in the effort it is so beautifully written and I found the text stunning. Although difficult, the story flowed really well. While not much really goes on for large parts of the book, I still found it a joy to read.

As the text is so whimsical and fanciful I did struggle sometimes to work out exactly what was happening. I believe that the ‘power’ has something to do with the written word but even after finishing the book I was left not really understanding what it was. Saying that though, I still really enjoyed the book.


I would give this book 4 stars :)


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

Find Paraic O'Donnell on:
paraicodonnell.com
Twitter
Goodreads

REVIEW 'Everything, Everything' by Nicola Yoon

'Everything, Everything' by Nicola Yoon

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. Olly writes his IM address on a piece of paper, shows it at her window, and suddenly, a door opens. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone?

Everything, Everything is about the thrill and heartbreak that happens when we break out of our shell to do crazy, sometimes death-defying things for love."





5*****

Hi Elementareaders!

‘Everything Everything’ is a young adult contemporary novel about a teenage girl who is allergic to the world. It is the debut novel from Nicola Yoon. I received a free copy of this book to review via Goodreads Giveaways.

Madeline Whittler, an eighteen-year-old girl from California, suffers from a very rare condition known as SCID. Basically, she is allergic to the world. Anything can trigger a reaction which can make here severely sick. Because of this she is locked away from the world, living in a protective bubble. He house has an air lock, the inside air is filtered and nothing (and no-one) gets through without rigorous inspection. Madeline has never left the house in her eighteen years, her only contact being with her mum and her nurse, Carla.

But then she sees him. Olly and his dysfunctional family move into the house opposite and Madeline is captivated by him. “Tall, lean and wearing all black” Madeline can’t get her mind off him and he’s noticed her too. A week after moving in Olly scribbles his email address on his bedroom window and the two begin communicating, first through email then instant messaging. Maddy quickly beings to fall for him and decides that she needs more; she needs to meet him. Carla arranges for Olly to come over while Maddy’s mum is at work, but there are strict rules. Olly has to go through a decontamination process, stay on the other side of the room to Maddy and above all, no physical contact.

This isn’t enough for them, however, and Maddy soon finds herself wanting more. Like in her favourite book, ‘The Little Prince’, Maddy chooses to take her life into her own hands and go out and explore the world with Olly, even if it’s only for a short time.

Wow. Okay, when I first started reading this book I didn’t realise quite how emotionally attached I would become to these characters. Especially Maddy. She’s such an interesting character; a very strong-willed and stubborn girl who can’t even leave the safety of her home without getting ill. I absolutely fell in love with her. Olly is such a fantastic character too. I found myself wanting them to be together more than anything.

The book is so well written and fast-paced. I read the whole thing in a day, and probably wouldn’t have put it down if I didn’t have important things to do. Like, you know, eat. It’s hard to believe that this is Nicola’s first novel as it’s so fantastic. The style reminded me a little of John Green, but it also has something that makes it so unique. I liked that the chapters were short and I loved the little additions like Maddy’s dictionary, the emails & IMs, the post-it notes etc…

And nothing could have prepared me for the shocking twist at the end. I’m not going to spoil it but WOW! It blew my socks off! I also liked how some mental health issues were covered as well as physical ones.

Although I’m pretty sure this book is meant as a stand-alone, I’d love to read more about Maddy and Olly’s future relationship and how Maddy dealt with the shock she was given. I’m pretty sure that this book would delight both teens and adults alike, so I’d recommend that EVERYONE reads it (that means you too!) I’m super excited to read more of Nicola’s books in the future as with this book she’s made it onto my top-authors list.


I would give this book 5 stars :)


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

Find Nicola Yoon on:
nicolayoon.com
Twitter
Facebook
Tumblr
Instagram
Goodreads

REVIEW 'The Gospel of Loki' by Joanne M. Harris

'The Gospel of Loki' by Joanne M. Harris

Goodreads Synopsis:

"The novel is a brilliant first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods - retold from the point of view of the world's ultimate trickster, Loki. It tells the story of Loki's recruitment from the underworld of Chaos, his many exploits on behalf of his one-eyed master, Odin, through to his eventual betrayal of the gods and the fall of Asgard itself. Using her life-long passion for the Norse myths, Joanne Harris has created a vibrant and powerful fantasy novel."










5*****

Hey Elementareaders!

‘The Gospel of Loki’ by Joanne M. Harris is the story of the Norse Gods from the point of view of Loki, the Trickster. I’ve always found Norse Mythology very interesting and Loki is by far my favourite of the Gods. I first heard about this book about a year ago and I finally managed to grab a copy from my local library earlier this week, then proceeded to read the whole book in two days. It was just that good!

Odin rules the nine worlds from his fortress of Asgard. When this book starts his people, the Aesir, have finally made peace with the Vanir and members of both groups make up the Gods of Asgard. The world is split into Order and Chaos, with Odin and the Gods trying to maintain Order over the nine realms. Loki was born from Chaos and is essentially a demon with no physical form (or Aspect) living in the realm of Pandaemoniem under the evil Lord Surt. But Loki was curious about the worlds where Order and Chaos co-existed so he left Chaos and traveled to the worlds above where he gained a physical Aspect, met Odin and was invited back to Asgard where he became the 25th God.

He did not receive a warm welcome from the other Gods, however, and soon lived up to his names of Wildfire and the Trickster. This book, which I would imagine takes place over a number of years, tells the story of many of Loki’s exploits in the nine realms including when he tricked a builder into fortifying Asgard’s walls without paying him, cut off Sif’s golden hair (to Thor’s outrage), got Thor to dress up as a bride to infiltrate the Ice Folk and kill their enemies, met the giants of Utgard and their own Trickster Utgard-Loki, all the way up to Ragnarok and the final battle between Order and Chaos.

Okay, I’ve just tried to describe the plot fairly simply above and I don’t know how much sense it will have made if you’re not familiar with the Norse Gods, but hopefully it wasn’t too bad!

I’ve always found Norse Mythology very interesting, mainly, I think, because of the diverse characters and fanciful stories. We get to meet all those characters in this book; Odin, Thor, Frey, Freyja, Balder, Frigg, Sigyn, Skadi, Gullvieg-Heid & many more. And as this book is written in first person from Loki, we see them all from his point of view. I also loved Loki’s illegitimate children, particularly Hel, the ruler of the Underworld and Fenris the werewolf.

I know a fair bit about Loki from things I’ve read online and books about mythology so I was a bit wary going in about how historically accurate Joanne had written her character, but I have to say that I found her version of Loki spot on! She voiced him perfectly and I also found the other characters to be very close to what I’ve read about them.

I really enjoyed the author’s writing style and the story flowed so well that I found it really difficult to put down. Loki’s storytelling was both informative and engaging and each of his stories flowed into each other very well.

This book is very heavy on the Norse Mythology (obviously) and I think it’s probably best to go into it with a little bit of knowledge beforehand. I think that if I knew nothing of the subject before, I might have found it a bit overwhelming mainly due to the amount of characters and worlds. But saying that, it is so well written and well explained that I think anyone could read it, I just think you’d get more enjoyment out of it if you knew a bit about some of the characters first. There is a very useful character list at the beginning that you can go back to.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves Norse Mythology, especially Loki and Odin but I think anyone who likes a good fantasy novel would enjoy it.


I would give this book 5 stars :)


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

Find Joanne M. Harris on:
joanne-harris.co.uk
Twitter
Goodreads

REVIEW 'An Android Awakes' by Mike French & Karl Brown

'An Android Awakes' by Mike French & Karl Brown

Goodreads Synopsis:

"In the future your culture will be shaped by machines.

Your world is manipulated by computer coding, search engines and social networks. It's just a matter of time before everything you watch, read and listen to will be created by autonomous machines...

Android Writer PN121928 is part of the Android Publishing Program. To replicate a writer's life, his wife has been forcibly removed and he lives in solitude with an allowance for drugs and state prostitutes. Having just had his novel The Eating of Citizen Kane rejected, he now has 14 more attempts to get a story accepted for the programme or he will be deactivated."

4****

Hi Elementareaders!

‘An Android Awakes’ is an illustrated science fiction novel set in a futuristic world of androids, which follows PD121928, an author android, struggling to get his work published. I received a free copy of this book to review through Goodreads Giveaways.

PD121928 is an author android with a vivid imagination and a wide range of characters and stories in his head. In this world, androids make up the majority of the population and take on all the creative jobs that humans previously did. Author androids need to have one of the 42 works of fiction (under 1000 words) that they submit to publishers to be accepted or they will be deactivated. PD121928 has only 14 submissions left.

This book comprises his final 14 attempts and the subsequent rejections he gets between. In a way, this book is almost like a collection of sci-fi short stories. All of PD121928’s stories and kind of related, however. They all seem to have similar themes running through them and some elements, like the mockingbird and an angel fish appear in more than one story.

I particularly enjoyed the stories; ‘The Amazing Arctic Sinking Man’, ‘2306’, ‘Bookmark’, ‘Angel Etiquette’ and ‘The Great Sea in the Sky’. All the characters in this book's short stories were very fleshed out and the stories themselves seem like they could have gone on longer. I most wanted ‘Bookmark’ to continue as I am an avid reader myself and enjoyed the idea of having a bookmark as a pet, and you have to read to feed it.

I enjoyed the writing style and I liked how it kept switching from 1st person to 3rd. I made it easy to distinguish android PD121928’s life from his story submissions. I also really liked the artwork throughout and thought that it really added to the story. I like that it was just black and white line art rather than full colour pieces. The style of the art made the book feel very futuristic and fitted in so well with the stories. I would like to thank the authors, Mike French and Karl Brown, for also sending me 2 postcard art prints of illustrations from the book.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to someone who likes the sci-fi genre, but is open to bizarre stories set in a world very unlike our own. I would also recommend going for a paperback copy rather than kindle to fully appreciate the artwork!


I would give this book 4 stars :)


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

Find Mike French on:
mikefrench.net
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Goodreads

Find Karl Brown on:
karlillustrated.tumblr.com
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Goodreads

REVIEW 'Love, Tanya' by Tanya Burr

'Love, Tanya' by Tanya Burr

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Hi everyone and welcome to my book! It's really close to my heart because it's inspired by my journey to becoming confident and feeling happy about who I am. I wanted to write the book to share the things I've learnt with you - to reveal my top tips on fashion, beauty, love, friendship and YouTube... and loads more! Plus there is room for you to list your own hopes and dreams alongside mine - so get creative and get involved! I'd love it if this book became a keepsake you can treasure for years to come and learn to love yourself along the way - like I have. I hope you enjoy it!"






4****

Hey Elementareaders!

‘Love, Tanya’ is a book by British YouTuber and internet personality Tanya Burr. The book is part memoir, and part tips and guide to make-up, hair, fashion, healthy living, baking and happiness and confidence.

Tanya’s writing style, like her videos, is very conversational and down to earth. Reading this book was like talking to a friend. Despite her YouTube fame, Tanya is a very modest and normal twenty-something. I’ve been watching Tanya, and her husband Jim’s, videos for a while now and one thing that I really love about them is their bubbly personalities.

‘Love, Tanya’ begins as a memoir. In the first couple of chapters Tanya talks about growing up in Norfolk. She had a very normal childhood, but her teen years were ridden with anxiety and panic attacks, something which I can very much relate to. Tanya talks more about this in a later chapter.

The next few chapters, Skincare Essentials, Make-Up Essentials, Hair and Nail Essentials, Fashion, Love, Life, Baking and Recipes and Confidence & Happiness and a gold mine of Tanya’s real-life experiences along with her tips and tricks. At the end of each chapter Tanya make a list of her top ten things in a certain category (for example; My Top 10 Fashion Tips, My Top 10 Skincare products). These lists are not only useful in finding out more about Tanya, but are also full of great tips to research and try. One thing that I think would have improved these sections though would be the addition of pictures of some of the products and items that she talks about. After these lists is a little section for the reader to write their own notes, which I thought was a really good idea.

The book has many glossy colour photographs scattered throughout. Mostly childhood pictures, photoshoots and selfies. I did find that some of the pictures didn’t always relate to what the chapter was about, but Tanya is a beautiful human being so I enjoyed the photos all the same.

This is a book that I can see myself coming back to again and again in the future. The style and content reminded me a little of ‘Brunette Ambition’ by Lea Michele (which was the very first book I reviewed on my blog!) but Tanya’s personality really shone through in the text, so although similar I thought they were both fantastic books in their own right.

I would definitely recommend this book to any teen or young adult who enjoys Tanya’s videos and wants to learn a little more about her.


I would give this book 4 stars :)


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

Find Tanya Burr on:
YouTube
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Elementareaders!

This is going to be a bit more of a chatty post than one of my usual book reviews. I'm wanting to do few more posts like this to let you guys know a bit more about me (as I feel book reviews can be quite impersonal) and to hopefully get to know a bit more about my readers too!

I hope you're all having a fantastic year so far! Halloween is by far one of my favourite times of the year as I love all the spooky decorations and I love being able to put fake cobwebs up all over the place. Halloween is also when it really starts feeling autumny, as the clocks have just gone back and it's getting darker earlier.

I didn't go out for Halloween this year as I have a non-existent social life (boo-hoo) and I'm also not too well at the moment (but I'm not going to go into that now). In fact, I don't think I've been out for Halloween since I left school in 2007! I just stayed in, watched 'The Cabin in the Woods' and ate a ton of snacks,

I'm quite happy with my little Halloween set-up in my room this year so I thought I'd share some pictures.

Most of the decorations were from Asda either this year or last year with the exception of the fake cobwebs & plastic spiders (QD), skull & pumpkin fairy lights (also QD) and colour-changing LED lights (can't remember where I got those!) Unfortunately my crappy camera wouldn't take a decent picture without the flash on so you don't really get the full spooky effect here. It's looks so much better with all the lights off!

I think one of my favourite things is this creepy skeleton bunting which was also super cheap (only £2 from Asda!) plus the really awesome cobweb table cloth.






I'd love to hear what you did for Halloween, what you dressed up as and if you has any awesome displays of decorations. Let me know in the comments below and tweet me some pics @elementaread

And until next year... stay spooky!! :)