BLOG TOUR: 'True North' (True Born Trilogy #2) by L.E. Sterling - SPOILER FREE REVIEW

I really enjoyed 'True Born' and have been dying to get my hands on the sequel, so I was over the moon when I was invited to participate in the 'True North' blog tour (after taking part in the cover reveal too - so much excitement!). I need to say a huge thank you to Entangled Teen and YA Reads Blog Tours for allowing me to be a part of both of these wonderful opportunities.

Abandoned by her family in Plague-ridden Dominion City, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fox has no choice but to rely upon the kindness of the True Borns, a renegade group of genetically enhanced humans, to save her twin sister, Margot. But Nolan Storm, their mysterious leader, has his own agenda. When Storm backtracks on his promise to rescue Margot, Lucy takes her fate into her own hands and sets off for Russia with her True Born bodyguard and maybe-something-more, the lethal yet beautiful Jared Price. In Russie, there's been whispered rumors of Plague Cure.

While Lucy fights her magnetic attraction to Jared, anxious that his loyalty to Storm will hurt her chances of finding her sister, they quickly discover that not all is as it appears... and discovering the secrets contained in the Fox sisters' blood before they wind up dead is just the beginning.

As they say in Dominion, sometimes it's not you... it's your DNA.  

I'm not going to spoil any of the events of 'True North', but if you haven't read 'True Born' you need to look away now!

'Sometimes flesh and bone are as inexplicable as magic.'

At the end of 'True Born', Margot and Lucy Fox were separated. Margot was taken to Russia by their parents, and Lucy was left in Dominion with the True Borns.
When 'True North' starts, Lucy is desperate to be reunited with her sister. She's been helping Nolan Storm, the leader of the True Borns and her stand-in guardian, for the last four months, gathering intel using the charismatic skills she honed as the daughter of one of the most important men in the Upper Circle. Nolan promised her that he'd help her find her sister, but Dominion is on the brink of a civil war so he won't be leaving any time soon.
Lucy takes matters into her own hands. She asks one of the members of a kid gang for help, but when things turn south she's saved by the mysterious Alistair. He agrees to help her find Margot and gets them passage on a cruise liner heading to Europe. Lucy thinks she sneaks away from the True Borns undetected, but within a day of the ship setting sail she realises Jared - her personal bodyguard turned sort of boyfriend - worked out where she was going and is also on board the ship.
As Lucy sails across the ocean, she meets a member of the Gilt: the exclusive group who are even higher than the Upper Circle. It's not until he starts talking about a potential miracle cure rumoured to be found in Russia that Lucy begins to wonder if she's found a map straight to her sister...

'True North' is far slower than 'True Born', so it took me quite a while to read it. Whereas I flew through the first book, I found myself feeling disinclined towards picking this one up, which is a shame: it's very well written and I still love the world L.E. Sterling has crafted, but I was forcing myself through it and I think that's why I didn't like it as much.
I was planning on rereading the first book before I jumped into this one, but I didn't have time. Despite the fact that L.E. Sterling does a great job recapping the events of book one, I still found it hard to get my head back into the world of Dominion, and I struggled to reconnect with the characters who I had previously loved.
That being said, this installment is definitely worth a read. It moves the plot forward exponentially, revealing the answers to questions that I'd had since the first page of 'True Born', but it makes you ask even more - it's impossible to read this book and not want to finish the series.
However, it suffers from middle book slump. Despite the fact that there were a few reveals throughout, it's seems more focused on setting up what I'm sure is going to be an explosive finale. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the third book in the trilogy will pick up the pace and bring back the excitement that thrummed through me with every page of the series opener.
When the third book is released I'm definitely going to reread the two previous novels: this series is perfect for binge-reading. Only four months pass between 'True Born' and 'True North', so it's a very short time between installments! Despite the fact that I could hardly remember what had happened, it didn't feel like long since I'd last walked the Plague-ridden streets of Dominion with Lucy and Jared.
Oh, and talking of Lucy and Jared, if you're a fan of a passionate, tension-filled kissing scene, you're going to love this.

I'm still excited for the third book in the True Born Trilogy. This installment didn't excite me as much as the first novel but I still enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to seeing how everything gets resolved. I have so many unanswered questions still floating through my head!

About the author:

I was a voracious devotee of sci-fi and fantasy novels all through my
childhood, so I suppose it doesn't come as much of a shock that I've
returned to the genre with a vengeance.

For a while I turned my back on the genre in favour of 'high-brow' literary texts. Ironically, it was my doctoral degree that saw me circling back. There's something about the way postmodern literature plays with the arcane that had me utterly fascinated, and it wasn't long until I fell headlong back into my old ways and haven't looked back since.

My first novel, which isn't in the Urban Fantasy or Fantasy genres, isn't high literature, mind you, even if it tangles with some serious statements about politics and the way our western world runs. My editor described it as something between Charles Dickens and 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Serious Fun, in other words.

My second novel, 'Pluto's Gate', is where I've come home to myself: it's a contemporary retelling of the Demeter-Persephone-Pluto story from Greek mythology. Folded into the mix is a Shaman-in-training, a magical book, Underworld Gods, a world covered in ice, a three-headed dog, and one lousy ex-boyfriend. 

But I'll tell you this much: I believe in the power of words and stories to
transform our inner worlds. Whether the characters be vampires or
vagabonds, a good narrative sucker punches so-called reality anyhow. 

You can find L.E. Sterling on her website, Goodreads and Twitter. 

If you've already read 'True Born' and can't wait to get your hands on 'True North', sample the first six chapters or purchase a copy here . If you haven't read 'True Born' yet, what are you waiting for?

GUEST POST: Kelley York and Rowan Altwood (+ review of 'Other Breakable Things')

Welcome to my post on the 'Other Breakable Things' blog tour! I'm stoked to welcome Kelley and Rowan to the blog today, and need to say a huge thank you to both Entangled Teen and Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours for allowing me to be involved.
Before you hear from the writing duo, I've written my review to get you even more excited to read this novel...

According to Japanese legend, folding a thousand paper cranes will grant you healing.

Evelyn Abel will fold two thousand if it will bring Luc back to her. 

Luc Argent has always been intimately acquainted with death. After a car crash got him a second chance at life - via someone else's transplanted heart - he tried to embrace it. He truly did. But he always knew death could be right around the corner again. 

And now it is. 

Sick of hospitals and tired of transplants, Luc is ready to let his failing heart give out, ready to give up. A road trip to Oregon - where death with dignity is legal - is his answer. But along for the ride is his best friend, Evelyn. 

And she's not giving up so easily. 

A thousand miles, a handful of roadside attractions, and one life-altering kiss later, Evelyn's fallen, and Luc's heart is full. But is it enough to save him? Evelyn's betting her heart, her life, that it can be.

Right down to the thousandth paper crane. 

'The rain is coming down in sheets. It has reduced visibility by 50 percent, but damn if it doesn't make for great mood lighting for two people driving down the freeway near midnight with only the glow of the dashboard for company.' 

An appropriately romantic opener, the prologue jumps us to the end of Luc and Evelyn's road trip. Things don't stay this rosy for long, putting you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire novel as you wait to reach this point.

Three years ago, Evelyn Abel had to move to Arizona with her mom and her new boyfriend, Robert. Her mom's relationships normally lasted a couple of months, so three years was a personal best for her, but now they've split up and they're moving back in with Evelyn's grandmother.
Evelyn is nervous to be back. The first thing she does is drive to the home of her childhood best friend - and almost sweetheart - Luc Argent, leaving an origami paper crane on his doorstep. Luc's been unresponsive to her emails, so she's putting the ball in his court: if he wants to see her, he knows where she is.
Luc sees the crane, and can't stop himself for rushing straight to Evelyn's grandmother's house. He's been trying to keep her at arm's length because the week after she left town he had a heart transplant, and the replacement is beginning to fail him. He doesn't want to go through another transplant so he knows he's going to die, and he didn't want to hurt Evelyn by getting close to her but he can't resist the chance to reconnect.
Tensions are high between the pair, because they're both keeping secrets. Evelyn knows Luc's hiding something, and he's not willing to confide in her because he doesn't want to see the pity in her eyes. Evelyn is the only person who treats him like he's not fragile, and it's one of the many things he loves about her.
But when Evelyn's mom and Robert reconcile, Evelyn shares her pain with Luc: Robert was acting inappropriately towards her, and while he didn't physically touch her she's never going to feel comfortable living with him again. She can't tell her mom

"She doesn't need me to be happy. She needs a relationship. When she isn't in love, she's miserable all the time. That's how it's always been. And that's okay, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm second place in her life, but I guess I couldn't stand the possibility of hearing her say that she didn't believe me because Robert was more important to her." 

but she can't go back to Arizona, and she can't think of a way to get out of it.
Luc can. He's been researching the Death With Dignity act, which is legal in Oregon. He'd been planning to travel up there and not return, and while taking Evelyn with him fills him with guilt he has to protect her, and it's the only way he knows how.
Luc's in no rush to meet the end of his life, so he's picked a bunch of tourist locations on the way for them to explore. But as the two of them get closer and the miles stretch behind them, Evelyn uncovers the truth: about Luc's original operation, the rejection, and his interest in euthanasia. Will she support him, or will Evelyn be unable to let the love of her life go?

Luc and Evelyn put the slow in slow burn romance. I'm not a fan of relationships in novels that move this slowly, but I know that aspect will appeal to a lot of people! The 'life-altering kiss' doesn't happen until halfway through the book, and I could feel myself getting bored: there's no point in having a will they won't they relationship if the outcome blatantly spoilered in the synopsis.
As soon as their relationship starts, it gets serious very quickly. Luc proposes to Evelyn and they get married, giving him the peace of mind that she'll be cared for after he dies because she'll get his insurance money.
Evelyn can't bring herself to do anything sexual because it makes her think of Robert, but the second they're married all of her misgivings go out the door. Just because you're married, it doesn't mean you have to have sex. Yes, the tradition calls for you to lose your virginity on your wedding night, but it's not a rule that's set in stone! It would have been better if they'd had a conversation before Luc suggested showering together - just because he assumed it was going to happen, doesn't mean it actually had to!
While I didn't adore the relationship, I really enjoyed the rest of 'Other Breakable Things' (even though it tore my heart out at times). The tourist attractions were brought to life and made me feel as though I'd experienced them myself - particularly the Winchester Mystery House, a place I've always wanted to visit! All of the stops on the trip filled me with an uncontrollable sense of wanderlust, and I don't think it's going to go away any time soon.
The family relationships were also brilliantly explored. The contrast between Luc's smothering parents and Evelyn's self-absorbed mother, the way that their actions caused their children to behave... It's been a long time since I've seen intricate family situations handled delicately and honestly, I just wish we'd been able to see more of the parents before they embarked on their road trip!
The best thing about 'Other Breakable Things' was the way Kelley and Rowan handled illness, which is painfully realistic. They definitely don't make it romantic, showing the harrowing effects that imminent death has on your body. They also show the stress and strain that the relationship experiences without making it over-dramatic. There's no blaming each other or lashing out without reason; all of their arguments and disagreements are because they want the best for each other but they just don't know how to go about it.
You'll have to read for yourself to discover whether Luc decides to go through with his decision to die with dignity, but reading this will make you appreciate your life and your health much more than you already do. I want to make the most of the time I have. I want to see the world and do crazy things (but maybe not as crazy as sleeping in an abandoned army barracks!).

I didn't love the love, but this book has given me a newfound appreciation for life. Make sure you keep the tissues close at hand, because it is a tear-jerker; even the happy bits had me bawling my eyes out!

Because the road trip that Grace and Gabe take is such an integral part of the book, I asked Kelley and Rowan if they could tell me what their ideal road trip would look like: where they'd want to go, and what music they'd want to listen to on the way...

Kelley: I've never gotten to travel much, unfortunately, so there are thousands of places I want to visit. Among my top three, however, are Japan (especially during the winter! The snow there looks so beautiful), Ireland, and the Pacific coast. For someone who grew up in California, there's so much of it I haven't seen. I'm hoping within the next few years, Rowan and I can take a nice, long road trip and hit up places like Disneyland, Monterey, San Jose (Winchester Mystery House, like in the book!), Mare Island, Point Reyes National Seashore (one of our favorite places), Muir Woods, all the way up into Oregon and Washington.

Anytime Rowan and I go on a trip, we have to compromise on music, usually trading off. I prefer a lot of instrumental stuff, like Thomas Bergersun and E.S. Posthumus. Though during our anniversary trip to Point Reyes back in November, I think we listened to a lot of Coldplay and that made me happy. 

Rowan: Haunted road trip! I love abandoned places especially if they're said to be haunted. If I could do a cross-country vacation where we visited places like Waverly Hills and other hospitals, graveyards, and asylums, I'd be happy. For music, I'd load up my iPod with dramatic 70's rock.

Author info:

Kelley York and Rowan Altwood are a wife and wife writing team living in central California with their daughter and way too many cats. Kelley is the author of 'Hushed', 'Made of Stars' and 'Modern Monsters', and 'Other Breakable Things' is Rowan's debut. 

Once again, I'd like to thank Kelley and Rowan for visiting my blog. It's been a pleasure to have them, and I really enjoyed 'Other Breakable Things' (even though it did bring a tear to my eye!).

If you're interested in reading some of the other posts from this blog tour, view the full schedule and visit some of the other hosts. If you'd like to read 'Other Breakable Things', you can purchase a copy here.

'The State of Grace' by Rachael Lucas - SPOILER FREE REVIEW

First things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Macmillan Children's Books for accepting my request to view this book via NetGalley, and to NetGalley for the service that they provide.

'I need to be quiet, somewhere, and just let myself settle, like a snow globe. But it's hard to make people understand that.' 

'Being a human is a complicated game - like seeing a ghost in the mirror and trying to echo everything they do.' 

This opening line is so easy to relate to, but Grace is actually playing the game on a higher difficulty setting to most of us: she has Asperger's, which can make interacting with other people a daily struggle.

There's a lot happening in Grace's life.
Her dad is a wildlife photographer who has flown off to shoot polar bears, and her mum is struggling without him. Eve, an old friend from her university days, arrives on the scene and automatically starts meddling: she doesn't think that Grace and her thirteen-year-old sister Leah should rely on their mum as much as they do and encourages her to start living for herself rather than her daughters. The house falls into disarray as their mum starts spending all of her time with Eve, reliving her youth and neglecting her grown-up responsibilities.
Leah's got a new best friend, buddying up with the little sister of Grace's arch nemesis, Holly. Grace can't understand why Leah stopped hanging out with her old best friend, and her sister doesn't want to talk to her about it.
Then there's Gabe - the new kid at school with a bad boy reputation - who kissed Grace at a party during a game of spin the bottle, and may (or may not) be her boyfriend now. Being a teenage girl is hard, and Grace's Asperger's makes everything tougher.
Grace struggles to adapt to the new normal, because she hates change so much. All she wants is a guide to help her deal with everything going on, but because no one's offering her one it looks as though Grace is going to have to try to fix everything by herself.

I enjoyed reading 'The State of Grace' so much that I want to disregard the things I didn't like about it, and not many books make me feel like that!
I love this book, because I think it's going to do good things for a lot of people. Autism is not common in YA, which adds to the assumption that's it's "not normal". In reality, over 700,000 people in the UK are on the autistic spectrum, which boils down to about 1 in 100 people. It's not the norm, but it's not actually that rare, which means it should be easier for people who are on the spectrum to find themselves in novels. Reading about things is a great way to learn and to breed acceptance, so more autistic characters would improve the way the general population act towards autistic people: rather than seeing them as troublemakers, it would be easier to accept the fact that they're just different, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
'The State of Grace' is an #OwnVoices novel, because Rachael Lucas has Asperger's. She directly tackles the comments and incorrect assumptions made towards autistic people

'"What's it actually like?"

I think for a moment, because people don't actually ask that very often. They tell me what they think I feel because they've read it in books, or they say incredible things like "autistic people have no sense of humour or imagination or empathy" when I'm standing right there beside them (and one day I'm going to point out that is more than a little bit rude, not to mention Not Even True) or they - even worse - talk to me like I'm about five and can't understand.' 

and because I have a few autistic friends and I've seen people treat them like that in the past, it made me both angry and extremely sad. People don't deserve to be treated like that.
I didn't realise this was an #OwnVoices novel until I started reading it, when it became obvious. Grace's autism is handled with care, and the way she describes experiencing the world

"It's like living with all of your senses turned up to full volume all the time [...] and it's like living life in a different language, so you can't ever quite relax because even when you think you're fluent it's still using a different part of your brain so by the end of the day you're exhausted."

is similar to the way my friends have described it to me in the past. It's a very personal way of explaining it, and Rachael has laid her soul bare by being so open and honest about the way that she feels.
The only other time I've encountered autism in writing for young people was 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time', which is vastly different to 'The State of Grace': as well as being a far more stereotypical representation of autism, it's for children so doesn't feature an autistic person navigating their first relationship. 'The State of Grace' is unique is that respect: rather than having Grace dealing with her Asperger's and making that the entire plot, it's just one part of her. Grace isn't her Asperger's, she's far more than that. She's bold, she's caring, she's funny

"You don't look autistic."

"And you don't look ignorant. And yet here we are."

and I warn you now, DON'T read this book while a) walking down the road or b) riding on public transport, because you will cackle so loudly at multiple points that you'll scare away pigeons, get funny looks from the people driving past you and make children cry. I don't think I've ever laughed so often while reading.
It's also a really reassuring read for teenage girls who don't have autism. Grace is so relatable, particularly when panicking about Gabe and worrying about how to define their relationship and whether she's blown it or not by saying the wrong thing... It's something we all experience at some point in our lives, and it just shows that people are people: we all worry about the same things, even if we have other stuff going on in our personal lives!
However, this book wasn't perfect. I almost (almost) dropped it down to three stars, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
My main problem is that Gabe is a bit one-dimensional. He mentions the fact that he takes ADHD medication and got in trouble before he was diagnosed, but there was more potential for exploration of that topic.
It almost reminded me of 'A Quiet Kind of Thunder' by Sara Barnard: the relationship in that novel is so successful because Steffi and Rhys (a mute girl and a deaf boy) learn to work past their individual difficulties and communicate and work together. All I wanted was for Grace and Gabe to communicate with each other, discussing how their individual diagnoses would impact their relationship and how they would work through problems. Instead it felt as though they were both burying their heads in the sand, which made it impossible to care about their relationship.
It wouldn't have been so much of a problem, but the relationship was a huge part of the novel. There were a lot of different plots going on, but Gabe and Grace was one of the bigger aspects, so the fact that it wasn't satisfying greatly detracted from the overall effectiveness of the story.
But as I've already said, I loved this book despite the negative aspects. Rachael's writing is beautiful, Grace is a well-crafted character who is a great role model, and I loved the exploration of the family (particularly the fact that Grace's mum and dad had their own plot: not many parents get that in YA!). I wish it had been longer, because that would have probably resolved all of my quibbles anyway, and I'm already looking forward to Rachael's second novel (apparently called 'My Box Shaped Heart', and slated for release next February!).

This is a quick read that you'll be able to get through in one sitting, so there's no reason not to give it a try. It's always good to support #OwnVoices authors, particularly those who're writing about under-represented topics, and Rachael Lucas has done an amazing job writing a character that it's easy to relate to and learn from.

'Fifteen' (The Dreamwalker Diaries #1) by Jen Estes

*This review will contain spoilers!* 

First things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Curiosity Quills Press, for sending me this title in exchange for an honest review. 

'If you die in your dreams, you die in real life. Or so say the proverbial old wives, slumber party legends, and A Nightmare On Elm Street.'

For the last three months, Ashling Michelle Campbell has been having the same dream every time she falls asleep.
She's in a crowd of people, straining to get closer to a stage where a group of prisoners are waiting to be sentenced. The pushing and shoving ceases as the sea of people parts, collectively getting to their knees to worship at the feet of the monstrous thing who walks down the makeshift aisle they've made: with a black, slimy mouth, curved claws and dead eyes, he's so close yet so far from being human.
The disgusting humanoid says her name, and she's terrified. How does he know who she is? But one of the prisoners gets dragged forward, and she has to deal with the shocking realisation that her future self is up on the stage.
As if that wasn't hard enough to accept, she then has to watch her future self get thrown into the crowd and devoured. She is literally eaten alive before her very eyes, every single night.
After she wakes up, she breaks her dreamcatcher in frustration. It's obviously not helping - if the damn thing worked, she wouldn't still be having the nightmare! She tells her best friend Tate, but he's Lakota and believes in their superstitions so he's certain that she's just made things much worse for herself. His fear makes Ash paranoid, and before going to bed that night she tapes the dreamcatcher back together, repairing it as well as she can.
It changes everything.
That night when she falls asleep, she wakes up and she IS future Ash. She's no longer watching from the crowd: she's experiencing the nightmare first hand. It's even worse than it was before, because now she can feel their teeth and claws tearing through her skin. When she wakes up, she's bleeding: the bite wound inflicted in the dream becomes real.
Ash is terrified. She tries so hard to stay awake all night, fighting the urge to sleep, but before long she's going under. When she comes to on the stage, she realises she can remember everything that happened the night before. She's completely aware that she's in a dream, and she can manipulate everything going on around her. She frees the other prisoners - the enigmatic Gray Eyes (who we later learn is called Coop), Reyna, James and Cyrus - and they escape, heading down into the secret tunnels running beneath the town.
Meanwhile, in the waking world, Ash takes part in a sleep study at the local university. She confides in Dr. Dietz about the craziness of her dreams, and he suggests that she focus hard on the spot where the dream ended. If she can visualise the scene around her she should be able to jump back in where she left off, continuing the dream rather than reliving the beginning over and over again.
Due to the butterfly effect, everything Ash does in the present changes the course of the future. She wants to stop the monster getting in charge - he's the Jumlin, the big bad in another Lakota legend that Tate introduces her to - but has no idea how to do this... Until she works out that the Jumlin is Walker Smith, the man running against her Aunt Lavaughn in the town's mayoral election.
Ash embraces her role as a dreamwalker, constantly brainstorming ideas of how she can help save the town, even getting veritable genius Tate involved in her schemes. But when Aunt Lavaughn gets shot and killed outside her office, Ash goes back in time to make sure she won't go to work that morning, inadvertently causing her mother to take Lavaughn's place...
As well as dealing with her time hopping, Ash has all of the usual struggles of a teenage girl. Her mother decided to foster Nadette, a recently orphaned teenage girl, a few months ago, and the two constantly come to blows. To make matters worse Tate is completely infatuated with Nadette, ignoring Ash as soon as she flounces past. So much for best friendship!
And how can a girl care about getting good grades in chemistry when she's so busy trying to save the world every night?

I can't remember the last time I felt so invested in a story. Due to the non-chronological nature of the narrative, it's impossible to clearly predict what's going to happen. Every single time Ash jumped into the future I didn't know what she was going to discover, and I was craving more information on how the town got into such a state. It's fascinating to see how things rapidly change based on the actions in the present, and it made me deeply consider the way that the smallest thing could make the biggest difference to someone's life.
Reading on became a compulsion. I started reading 'Fifteen' on the train on the way to London to see Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties, and I continued reading in the breaks between sets, when I went to the bathroom, even while queuing to buy merch! I wouldn't recommend reading 'Fifteen' if you're planning on dipping in and out of a book: this is an immersive experience, and one that you need to commit yourself to wholeheartedly.
There are predictable bits: it was very obvious that Walker Smith was the Jumlin, and the eventual reveal of who Laughing Bear - the key to making all of his spawn immortal - was also not surprising in the slightest. But the things that I thought would happen didn't: Tate and Ash kiss but their relationship never develops further than that, which means we don't have to deal with the best friends becoming love interests trope, and at the end of the novel her mother is still dead because she doesn't always find the time travel easy.
Ash's struggle is very realistic. She isn't too intimidated by the news that she's a dreamwalker because she assumed that her dreams were taking her to the future - it was the only explanation that made sense. But she needs to stay on the ball constantly, flying under the radar as she intercepts her friends from the future and trying different outcomes each time to get to a more desirable conclusion to each night's installment of the journey.
This is the most exciting dystopian I've ever read. Because the outcome seems avoidable, the quest to prevent it ramps up the tension and means you really root for the characters. I found myself flinching every time Ash made a faux pas and revealed herself to the people in the future, but the banter lacing most of her interactions had me giggling despite the fact that I felt very on edge.
The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because at times it gets a little overwhelming. There are a few very rapid timeline changes that left me feeling dizzy, and they weren't written in the clearest way. That, combined with the thinly veiled foreshadowing ruining the surprise of the twists, were the only two problems I had, but other than those this was a pretty perfect example of a dystopian.
If you don't want to start a new series you're in luck - 'Fifteen' works pretty well as a standalone (if you can deal with a couple of unanswered questions!). I'm definitely going to be reading on, though: I'd be an idiot to stop reading here!

If you're thinking about starting a new series, look no further. You won't be disappointed when you delve into this world.
I'm going to pick up the recently published 'Sixteen', second book in the Dreamwalker Diaries series, as soon as I can, because this was utterly gripping. I hope it's a direct continuation, because even though this could work really well as a standalone I NEED answers. Will Ash be able to save her mother? Has she managed to save the future? Is the Jumlin threat wiped out for good? So many questions! 

'A Quiet Kind of Thunder' by Sara Barnard

*This review will contain spoilers!*

First things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Macmillan Children's Books, for accepting my request to view this title on NetGalley, and to NetGalley for the service that they provide.

'Here are three separate but similar things: shyness, introversion and social anxiety. You can be one, two or all three of these things simultaneously. A lot of the time people think they're all the same thing but that's just not true.'

'Millie Gerdavey cheated on her boyfriend again.'

This opening sentence made me think this book was going in a COMPLETELY different direction.
I hadn't read the blurb beforehand - something I normally do - because I knew I was going to enjoy the book. 'Beautiful Broken Things' was one of my favourite debuts of last year, and I've been highly anticipating reading more of Sara's writing since I read her first release way back in March.

Steffi has selective mutism. Well, calling it that makes it sound like her silence is a choice, but often it's completely the opposite. She wants to speak, but 'words fizz up on [her] tongue, then dissolve into nothing'. 

Rhys is the new boy at school, and he's deaf. He's good a lip-reading, but prefers to speak using BSL (British Sign Language). 

Steffi knows some BSL - her uncle decided it was worth a shot, to see if it would get her talking again - so they get introduced on the first day of school. Steffi doesn't have anyone else, because her best friend Tem went to college to study sports science rather than staying on at their sixth form, but her and Rhys strike up a fast friendship. He's patient with her, not afraid to slow down and simplify his signing so that she can follow the conversation and learn more of his language.

Soon enough, their friendship becomes more. Steffi has never had a boyfriend before, and when she's not fighting with her anxiety she's the happiest she's ever been. 

But this is the year she's supposed to be proving that she can make it on her own. If she can't show a marked improvement in her communication, her parents have told her that she can't apply to university like she wants to. Having Rhys makes her feel more confident than she's ever been before, but her mother worries that she might be using him as a safety net. 

Steffi is determined to show everyone - including herself - that she can learn to cope with her anxiety and get on with her life. Whether that'll be with or without Rhys, only time will tell. 

I'd like to tell you a story.
Last April, I turned 20. The night before, I went to see Funeral For a Friend in Cardiff. The night before that, I was seeing Bring Me The Horizon at the Royal Albert Hall. I spent the majority of my birthday with my girlfriend, walking around the countryside and talking for hours. I almost cried when she gave me presents, because they showed exactly how well she knew me, and I was struck by how much she cared about me. The night of my birthday, I went out for a wonderful meal with my mum and my grandad, and the restaurant played both 'The Fox' by Ylvis and Weird Al Yankovic's 'eBay'.
No part of the weekend could have been better.
Then the day after my birthday happened.
I woke up, and I felt as though I had a lump in my throat. It was an effort to get out of bed, the weight of the world pressing against my chest and leaving me trapped there. After a couple of hours of wallowing I summoned up some energy and made my way downstairs, but as soon as I saw my family I started crying.
I didn't stop crying the entire day. I couldn't explain why; I could hardly speak because I was blubbering, hyperventilating and internally berating myself. What was wrong with me? Why did I have to ruin one of the happiest weekends of my life by having the worst day I could ever remember experiencing?
Why couldn't I just be happy like a regular person? 
Steffi has a birthday party, which goes amazingly. She spends the day with her family, Tem and Rhys, and nothing could possible be better. But when she goes to bed she has a debilitating panic attack. She's awake until the early hours of the morning, worrying about losing all of the people around her and never having another wonderful day like that again.
As you can see, I related to this book.
When my counsellor told me I had anxiety, I laughed her off. I wasn't anxious, I had the same worries as everyone else! Everyone gets on the bus and starts panicking about the potential of missing their stop. Everyone worries about their friends and family dying.
Everyone worries, but some people worry more than others. Seeing pieces of myself in Steffi at multiple points during 'A Quiet Kind of Thunder' has helped me realise that I should have listened to my counsellor, and it has made me more determined than ever to focus on self-care and the state of my mental health.

I loved everything about this novel.
The relationship between Steffi and Rhys is adorable, but more importantly than that it's realistic. There's no kissing in unrealistic places, just a simple make-out session under the glare of a streetlight. Their first time isn't perfect - in fact, Steffi's happy to admit that the second time was much better than the first! These aren't scenes out of a movie; these are scenes out of real life. Reading their interactions made me miss my boyfriend, but it also made me feel beyond grateful to have someone who I feel this strongly about. If you've ever taken anyone you love for granted, this book will remind you just how special they are to you.
Sara Barnard doesn't gloss over the less attractive parts of being a teenager. Steffi and Rhys both make mistakes - particularly when she sends him the Youtube link to a song and doesn't consider his inability to hear! - but that's a part of being human. Steffi argues with Tem, because even lifelong best friendships have fault lines. There's the usual tension between Steffi and her parents, but with an unusual family dynamic: Steffi's mum and dad have both remarried but remain civil, and Steffi's stepbrother, Clarke, died a few years ago.
Nothing in this book is perfect, which is what makes the story itself so faultless. I could list every scene here, do a page-by-page breakdown of all of the action and why I loved it so much, or you can just go and read it yourself.
I don't need to justify why you'll love this book, because you're going to. It's impossible not to think of this as one of the best young adult novels ever written.

This is my favourite book of all time.

Thank you so much, Sara, for writing such a beautiful book. 

'A Quiet Kind of Thunder' is a book that's helped me understand myself more, a book that's shining a light on the struggles of the deaf community, a book that shows that you can do anything that you put your mind to. 

Yes, it's a love story. 

But it's so much more than that.

'The Homecoming' by Stacie Ramey

*This review will contain spoilers!*

First things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Sourcebooks Fire, for allowing me access to this title through NetGalley, and to NetGalley for the service that they provide.

'Standing on the high school's lacrosse field in the town I never thought I'd go back to, I wait for my turn to do suicides.' 

Why did he think he'd never go back? I'm a huge fan of the tragic back story, so I was flooded with questions when I read this first sentence.

John's back in the town he swore he'd left for good. After his brother Ryan was injured in an accident that was his fault, John struggled with his anger issues until he was sent away to live with his father and Uncle Dave, but following his girlfriend Leah's suicide - and a run-in with the law thanks to his tendancy alcohol and his future goals being focused on selling weed in California - he's been sent home to spend the rest of his senior year with his mother, little sister Livy and the boy he thinks of as New Ryan.
He quickly meets next door neighbour Emily, who seems to be the quintessential good girl based off of how neatly she stacks her textbooks on her passenger seat. John doesn't want to get involved with anyone - it's too soon after Leah - but there's something about Emily that draws him in.
As Ryan gets worse, John struggles to stay sober. He has compulsory drug tests every few weeks to ensure that he hasn't broken the conditions of his bail, and he doesn't want to screw up and let his family down once again.
Exploring the way disability impacts every member of the family, we follow John as he comes to terms with his grief over Leah, beginning to move on with his life and make plans for his future, and how he starts to deal with his guilt over Ryan, accepting his part in the events of that fateful day.

I didn't realise this was a companion novel to 'The Sister Pact' until I stumbled over someone's comment on Goodreads over halfway through the story. That explained my frustration over why Leah's story wasn't getting told properly: it's already been dealt with in another book. It makes 'The Homecoming' less satisfying as a standalone, because half of the story isn't actually told. All we know about Leah is that she killed herself, she had a sister called Allie and she was a fan of 'Great Expectations'.
But that isn't the only thing that makes 'The Homecoming' struggle to stand on its own two feet. The friendship - and then relationship - between John and Emily is flat, and her insinuated relationship with her cousin isn't fully explored enough to be emotionally impactful. We know that he's in trouble but get no real answer as to why, and when she runs off to talk to him and comes back with red puffy eyes, the situation is resolved but doesn't seem relevant to the bigger picture. Her and John almost have sex but then her parents come home, and after they argue, ingore each other for a couple of weeks and eventually make up he asks her if they're back together. They never officially got together, so that seemed a little presumptuous - just because a girl wants to sleep with you, doesn't mean she wants a relationship. I might have felt differently if I'd been familiar with John's relationship with Leah, but based off of just this story I didn't feel anything towards their characters.
The other problem is that John's narrative doesn't sound masculine. A while had passed between me requesting this title and actually reading it and because the synopsis wasn't fresh in my mind I read the first few pages genuinely believing this was a girl whose girlfriend had killed themselves, rather than a boy. I know boys do internally ruminate on their feelings, but John's tendancy to live in the past felt more feminine, further cementing the disonnect that plagued me.
The ending is rushed, and while three quarters of the book are leading up to finding out the reason John blames himself for Ryan's accident, the reveal only takes a few pages and a conversation that is quickly brushed over. He feels guilty not because Ryan skateboarded away from him into the road, but because he pushed him.
This dramatic reveal is then diminished by the knowledge that Pete was texting while driving, meaning you can blame Ryan's accident on teen stupidity or sibling rivalry, but the moral of the story seems to be: be careful while driving and if arguing with someone near a road.
I know it's meant to represent that lots of different factors contribute to accidents, and you can't pin something to one specific cause, but it muddles and it feels like the boys are trying to outdo each other: "Oh, it's nice that you pushed him into the road, but I was texting!".
I did appreciate the fact that Ryan wasn't born with his disability, making it possible for the book to explore the impact on his family and how they came to terms that he had been fundamentally changed. I've seen disabilities represented in YA before, but not like this (or, at least, not that I can remember being written as effectively as this story). The frank discussion regarding different types of treatment and the possibility of moving Ryan into a more suitable environment were thought-provoking and well-researched, free of a judgmental attitude towards Ryan's mother for requiring more professional help for her son.
If the story had been more focused on Ryan, rather than trying to deal with John's grief, blame and struggle with drugs and alcohol, I think I would have enjoyed it much more - instead it felt like a smorgasbord of teenage issues that weren't completely or satisfyingly tackled.

I haven't read 'The Sister Pact' yet, so can't definitely say if I would recommend reading that title first, but if you like having as much of a character's back story as you can that'll be a good place to start. I really enjoyed Stacie Ramey's writing and her willingness to tackle emotionally involving topics, even if I did think the relationship between John and Emily was a little undeveloped.
If you like contemporaries that aren't afraid to deal with hard-hitting subjects, 'The Homecoming' is the book for you.

#BLOGTOBER DAY 18: 'Stealing Snow' by Danielle Paige

*This review will contain spoilers!*

First things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Bloomsbury Children's for accepting my request to view this title on NetGalley, and to NetGalley for the service that they provide.

'First kisses sometimes wake slumbering princesses, undo spells, and spark happily ever afters. Mine broke Bale.'

Don't be deceived by how strong this first sentence is. It's the only good thing about the entire book.

In New York, Snow is a patient in a mental hospital where she's been confined for attempting to walk through a mirror when she was a little girl.
But there's another world out there, Algid, waiting for their princess to come home and save them. Their ruler, King Lazar, is an evil tyrant who uses his snow powers for evil, freezing whole villages in the blink of an eye every time he gets angry. Snow is his daughter, and the only person in the world who has powers capable of taking Lazar down and freeing the world from his icy hold.

I hated this book.

• There's a love square. Snow is in love with Bale, one of the fellow patients in the mental asylum. He gets kidnapped and taken to Algid, where she follows him because she's so in love. She's taken to Algid by a charming man called Jagger, who she's instantly attracted to. He abandons her when they arrive, and she meets a magic hating man called Kai, who she kisses - despite the fact that she loves Bale. She's then separated from Kai and reunited with Jagger, who she constantly thinks about kissing. Every man this girl encounters, she wants to make out with. You'd think having a prophecy dedicated to her and a murderous father would give her more important things to worry about. 
• The writing is basic. I don't think I saw a sentence longer than a few words. There were no sentences with clauses. There was lots of stopping and starting. If this had been a novel aimed at younger readers it would have made sense. But it was quite annoying. 
• There were also endless lists of questions. Obviously Snow wants answers about Algid, because she's got no idea about this magical realm that she apparently originates from, but she doesn't give anyone a chance to answer her questions. She just keeps going, barely drawing breath, paragraphs of questions one after the other after the other.
• Don't forget the constantly interrupted speech! I don't know how to... What should I... I mean... It's hard to explain... Describing it... I just can't find the words... Yeah, you get the drift. There's a big difference between speech interruptions that make the dialogue more realistic, and those that prove the author doesn't have a clue what she wants her characters to say. 
• The world is hardly built. There's a River Witch, a Fire Witch and a Witch of the Woods, as well as a group of Robbers that use magical potions in small vials. If I hadn't read the two novellas - 'Before The Snow' and 'Queen Rising' - I would have had no idea what was going on, because in the bulk of the novel nothing was established. This is one case where it's vital you read the novellas if you want to read the book, because there's no history given in the entire novel. The descriptions are also very basic, with trees that change colours and snow everywhere... Definitely transports you to a different realm. 
• Snow doesn't achieve anything in the first novel, which means the second book is going to go much the same. She's still separated from Bale, still has unresolved feelings for Jagger and Kai (who has gone missing with his shapeshifter sister, Gerde) so I can imagine that a lot of the book will be dedicated to tracking down those two characters. She's looking for three pieces of a magical mirror... And she manages to find - and lose - one of those pieces in this first book, so she's still going to be looking for those. It's painfully predictable. 
• Talking of predictable, I knew what the big twist was going to be within the first 20%. Bale, the (alleged) love of Snow's life, is randomly taken to Algid, and she follows him. When in Algid, she learns of a mysterious masked man who acts as the Enforcer, the King's terrifyingly evil and murderous guard. As soon as he was mentioned I thought "hm. Bets on Bale being the Enforcer?" and I WAS RIGHT. It's so obvious, especially after the Enforcer throws himself into a tree to avoid attacking Snow... And she still doesn't put two and two together. Say it with me now: GROAN!

Save yourself and don't bother reading this book. I have literally nothing good to say about it. Worst book I've read this year.

#BLOGTOBER DAY 7: 'Lost Stars or What Lou Reed Taught Me About Love' by Lisa Selin Davis

 *This review will contain spoilers!*

First things first, I need to say a huge thank you to Hot Key Books for accepting my request to view this title on NetGalley, and to NetGalley for the service that they provide.

'That night, I walked up the wobbly footbridge-in-progress, rolling my bike next to me until I stood in front of the abandoned observatory, rain leaking from the yellow rain slicker into my slightly-too-small hiking boots. What a shame that this was my night to be solo beneath the stars: I could barely see them.'

So many important aspects of the plot are introduced in this sentence: Carrie's position of the outsider orbiting her friendship group, her love of astrophysics and the footbridge that she'll soon be dedicating her summer to completing.
This prologue actually takes place midway through the book, so it neatly splits the novel into before and after sections, something I always appreciate. It's nice to have the context of the scene slowly revealed to you.

I don't really know how to sum up this book, because it's about so many things.
The focus is definitely on family. Carrie's sister, Ginny, dies, and her mother leaves home to go to a meditation retreat to learn to deal with that fact. Carrie's left with her little sister and her father, both of whom don't seem to respect her at all because of all the mistakes she made while acting out after Ginny's death.
Her father signs her up for a minimum wage summer job creating a footpath at the local observatory - the observatory that's been closed since Ginny's death - and Carrie sees it as the ultimate punishment. Every day she dons her shitkickers and her hard hat and rides her bike down the Avenue of the Pines, trying not to let her eyes wander to the white cross affixed to a tree in remembrance of Ginny.
Carrie isn't interested in the work at all. She's derisive of all of her co-workers, not genuinely believing that any of them can be there willingly, and she's standoffish to their group leader, Lynn. She keeps herself to herself, listening to her Walkman and doodling lyrics in her notebook, as well as trying to track the progress of the Vira comet that should be coming into view within the next couple of weeks.
All Carrie cares about is music and astrophysics, until she meets her new next door neighbour, Dean.

'His name was Dean. He had long hair. He played drums. He know how to fix bikes. Had there ever lived a more promising creature?'

Dealing with loss, redemption, forgiveness, family and first love, 'Lost Stars' is a cleverly woven tale about a lot of different aspects of teenage life.

First of all, I loved the soundtrack. 'Lost Stars' is set in the 80's, and including Carrie whipping tapes out of her bag to switch the music on her Walkman, and her group of friends arguing over which vinyl to put on the record player, transports you back to a completely different time. It still stays relevant, though: if you don't constantly switch albums on your iPod or flick from one Youtube video to another I'll be very surprised.
I find novels set in the recent past are the most difficult to write authentically: modern language slips in and it feels uncomfortable. The attention to detail really brought the time period to life, though: the description of their hangout in Soo's basement, the large television in a wooden surround in Tonya's house. If you liked 'Stranger Things' but wished there were less monsters, you'll definitely like 'Lost Stars'. 
I wasn't impressed by the astrophysics which surprised me. It was one of the unique points that made me want to read this book in the first place. It didn't fit in very smoothly with everything else that was going on. It might have been easier to accept if the story had included a real astronomical event such as Haley's comet, but when I found out the Vira comet is fictional I was disappointed. There are so many fascinating and intriguing things going on in space, it didn't seem worthwhile to make one up. (Yes, I know it's fiction and that's the point, but why have real bands and a fake comet?).
Dean and Carrie's romance was sweet. Their easy, joking nature made it impossible not to smile during their exchanges, particularly with their constant search for the best band name. I was worried it was going to be instalove (I've read too much of that recently!) but I actually found myself rooting for them.
As well as the slow burn of their eventual coupledom, Carrie's redemption took its time. She's a hateful character at the beginning, dealing with fits of rage that left me cringing, but by the end of the novel she's starting to get herself under control and trying not to lash out at the people around her. It's a realistic coming of age, particularly factoring in the guilt of her involvement in Ginny's death and her struggle with an apathy verging on depression.

'I didn't want to kill myself. I just didn't want to be alive.'

Her father is quite controlling in his concern for her, but it's nice to see a parent actively involved in their child's life, particularly after losing one daughter.
Seeing her mother struggling to cope with the loss of Ginny is also very realistic. Both Carrie's mother and father have their own emotions, which is still quite rare in YA - I'm so used to seeing parent's as unemotional robots that the rawness of their grief was very unsettling.

I was torn between a three and a four star for 'Lost Stars', but the ending definitely made me bump it up.
Whenever you encounter a romance with an end date in YA - one of the characters leaving for college, in this instance - it always seems to be avoided somehow. I was grateful that Dean returned to Oregon, and while their love story is left open for a sequel it doesn't necessarily need one.
This is Lisa Selin Davis first YA novel, and if she continues on in this vein she's going to make a big impact on the genre.