Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil (review)

Rating: 4/5 - There whenever you need a pick-me-up
Source: Copy from NetGalley (thanks Peachtree Publishers!)

Synopsis from Goodreads: Sam Kinnison is a geek, and he’s totally fine with that. He has his horror movies, his nerdy friends, World of Warcraft – and until Princess Leia turns up in his bedroom, he doesn’t have to worry about girls. 

Then Sam meets Camilla. She’s beautiful, friendly and completely irrelevant to his life. Sam is determined to ignore her, except that Camilla has a life of her own – and she’s decided that he’s going to be part of it.

Sam believes that everything he needs to know he can learn from the movies ... but now it looks like he’s been watching the wrong ones.

Check out my review after the jump!

4 to 16 Characters by Kelly Hourihan (review)

Rating: 4.5/5 Go get it!
Source: An ARC from NetGalley (thank you Lemon Sherbet Press)

Synopsis from Goodreads: Fifteen-year-old Jane Shilling’s best friends don’t know her real name. In fact, they don’t know anything about her at all. Jane’s life has collapsed in the last few years; following the death of her mother, her father turned to drinking, and Jane is reeling from the double blow. To escape, Jane devises a number of online personas, each with a distinct personality, life history, and set of friends. But things become trickier when she finds herself drawing close to some of her online friends, and winds up struggling with the question of how to maintain a real friendship while masquerading as a fake person. With the help of Gary, a socially awkward classmate and competitive Skeeball player who is Jane’s only offline friend, and Nora, her therapist, Jane begins to sift through her issues. The only catch is that that involves taking a long, hard look at what her life’s like when the computer is shut off, and that’s a reality she’s been fighting for years.

Check out my review after the jump!

Hand Luggage Reviews (#1)

      Hand luggage is a feature where we give quick, 30 second reviews of books we've been reading. They're short, (hopefully) sweet, and the perfect way to check a book out before you dive in! This time Caroline is reviewing Sia by Josh Grayson and The Pentrals by Crystal Mack. 

Rating: 1/5 Not good guys!

Source: Received an ARC from NetGalley

Goodreads

There’s not a lot of good to say about Sia I’m afraid. The premise - girl wakes up in a park and has no idea who she is, spends a week homeless before being found by her ridiculously wealthy parents - sounds intriguing, if a little clichéd. Unfortunately, the book sticks with the cliché and gets rid of the intriguing. Everything in the plot is telegraphed from the word go, so much so that it’s probably one of the most predictable books I’ve ever read. Every plot point that comes up, like Sia’s mother being an alcoholic, is resolved within a couple of chapters. There’s just no conflict anywhere.

When she goes back to school, Sia is confronted with with the horrible person that she was before, which sparks a desire to change herself. That’s a really noble goal, and maybe a book about Sia being woken up to her faults without needing to go through traumatic amnesia (the reason for which is never fully explained) would be worth reading.

That’s before I’ve even got to the fact that every POC in the novel, from Carol the friendly homeless african america, to Beatriz, the mexican housekeeper, is basically just a stereotype, a foil there to help Sia on her journey. Although, to be fair to the writer, so is every other character. In short - I wasn’t a fan!

Rating: DNF
Source: Received an ARC from NetGalley
Goodreads

Next up is another novel from NetGalley, this time I didn’t even finish it! The Pentrals again has an interesting premise, narrated by a young woman’s shadow, it follows the story of Violet. And that’s about as far as I got. I just couldn’t handle the narration by Antares, Violet’s shadow; it was just SO BORING. So many descriptions of what it’s like to be a shadow, and how she had to adapt to being a shadow on different surfaces...... no thanks.

I’m kind of disappointed because the synopsis sounded so interesting, but I just couldn’t handle any more. I used to feel very guilty about not finishing books but somehow reading it on Kindle makes it easier to just click out, and not click back in again. Sorry!

Have you read either of these novels? What did you think?

Wonder by R.J. Palacio (review)

Source: The library

Rating: 4.5/5 Loved it!

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
        
I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?



Read my review after the jump!

Waiting on Wednesday: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

'Waiting on Wednesday' is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, where we pick the book we just can't wait to get our hands on next.

Check our this week's pick after the jump!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that you wish were taught in schools

Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme run by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week they give us a title for a list and we give them some answers!

Check out this week's Top Ten after the jump!

Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols (review)

Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Ebook bought from Hive.co.uk

Synopsis from Goodreads: Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…


Check out my review after the jump!