Review: Amber by Julia Sykes

Book Title: Amber
Author: Julia Sykes
Genre: YA, Sci-fi, Contemporary
Nº of pages: 304
Date Published: 12th September, 2013
Rating: 

Amber’s lost her memory. She doesn’t even know her real name. The only clues to her identity are a beautiful amber necklace and a broken mobile phone. She’s determined to learn the truth about her past life, and the secrets she’s hiding, but how many rules will she break along the way?

My Thoughts:

Amber was not what I was expecting. When I first read the summary I new I just had to read it, no question. The cover and summary really drew me to wanting to read it. I won't say it's an incredibly amazing book, but it's definitely still very high up - close to some of my favourites.

Can we first just have a moment to admire the cover? The colours work so well together and the overall look is just beautiful!

Amber was one of those books where the author has made it so that there are steep cliff-hangers at the end of every chapter - this also mean't that I stayed up past midnight a few times because I felt like I just had to keep going.

I want to compare Amber to another book I've read so you get the idea of what it's like, but to be honest, I haven't really read a book like this before. Something exciting happens in each chapter which makes it almost impossible to get bored of reading it. Although sometimes I found in parts I just wanted the characters to get going already. I found that the main character Amber is a kind and sociable person who loves to make friends. I understand that she doesn't want to pass her own problems onto her friends.

I really would recommend this book to a lot of people. I'm not sure whether I would read it again, since the suspense wouldn't really work on me. I gave this a 4-star rating, mostly just because I really quite enjoyed it, I also really liked the authors writing style.

Amber was sent to me by the Curious Fox Publisher. However, all the following is 100% my own, honest opinions. 

Review: The Beggar Maid by Dilly Court

Book Title: The Beggar Maid

Author: Dilly Court

Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Nº of pages: 480
Date Published: 24th October, 2014
Rating:

From the age of eight, sixteen-year-old Charity Crosse has been living rough with her grandfather and begging on the streets.
When he grandfather passes away, Charity is helped by a kindly doctor who introduces her to bookseller, Jethro Dawkins. He takes Charity in to help in his bookshop and keep house in their one room behind the shop.
Charity sleeps under the counter and is not well treated, but Jethro instills in her the love of books that began when her grandmother taught her to read. And she starts to hope for a better future for herself.
But Jethro dies unexpectedly, and Charity is faced with eviction when the rent is raised by the unscrupulous landlord. Must Charity give up her dream of running the bookshop herself, and worse, be forced to return to the streets...?

My Thoughts 

You're probably wondering why I gave this a 3 stars, to be honest I don't blame you. This book seemed to have very good reviews on Goodreads. This book was very well written and it had a good plot line but it just wasn't fast pace enough for me.
This is (compared to most of my books) a very long read. I prefer fast-moving books which didn't drag out a scene for too long. I guess this book didn't exactly hit it off for me very well. I did still sort of enjoy it, though I wouldn't consider it as a personal favourite.

I picked this one for it's historical fiction genre and I liked the look of the storyline. Don't let my words put you off this book because I suppose it will appeal to some and others might not enjoy it as much.

Presumably this novel is set in the late 19th Century London. The main character named 'Charity' is quite a strong-willed character and very clever. I find that I liked her character very much. Another thing is that although when the exciting or dangerous parts happened they were really enjoyable, they also stand quite far apart.

Overall a fairly good book, as I said not a personal favourite but I would still recommend it to anyone who is looking for an interesting, historical fiction novel.

What do you think about this book? Would you read it?

Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Book Title: Firelight
Author: Sophie Jordan
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Nº of pages: 323
Date Published: 7th September, 2010
Rating:

A hidden truth.
Mortal enemies.
Doomed love.
With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness forces her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is the gorgeous, elusive Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret.
Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

My Thoughts

This is the first of a three book series, it kept me captivated 'till the end! The characters are very well done. They just go so well together, Will and Jacinda. Although I thought sometimes Jacinda acted fairly childish for a 16 year old. The writing was incredible, when she turned into a dragon it felt really easy to imagine what transforming looked like - not so much what she looked like when a fully transformed dragon...

Each book pretty much leaves you with a steep cliff-hanger. Which mean't after I read the paperback book, I quickly headed to the kindle store and bought the other two! My only proper criticism is that I really wish the author would write more of their adventures together. There is another book based around the same stuff on Jacinda's best friend Azure, called Breathless so I might check it out. Even this isn't much for proper criticism!

“A hunter in love with his prey.”

 I honestly think that this quote describes the book best. Will is a hunter and Jacinda is the hunted. What better thing to say than "opposites attract".

I would really, definitely recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a fantasy, romance mixed with contemporary novel. This book literally had me blabbing about it for days, the cover also. I know people always say "never judge a book by it's cover" however, I always find that it's more often the cover which attracts the reader to the story or the summary as well.

Review: Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

Book Title: Girl Online
Author: Zoe Sugg
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary, Young Adult, Drama
Nº of pages: 352
Date Published: 25 November, 2014
Where to Buy: The Book Depository | Amazon
Rating:

Penny has a secret.
Under the alias GirlOnline, she blogs about school dramas, boys, her mad, whirlwind family - and the panic attacks she's suffered from lately. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets the gorgeous, guitar-strumming Noah. Suddenly Penny is falling in love - and capturing every moment of it on her blog.
But Noah has a secret too. One that threatens to ruin Penny's cover - and her closest friendship - forever.

Considering all the negative reviews about Zoe Sugg's new ghost-written novel, I still decided to take my chances. Even now I do not regret my decision.
All I can say to this book is wow! Half the books I read, halfway through I can tell what could possibly happen, but in this book no way could I have predicted the ending. I won't go into too much detail as I do not wish to spoil the book for those who may want to read it. I loved this book, it's so well written, even if it wasn't actually Sugg's writing, it was still her ideas and I will give her a pat on the back for that!

I find that the beginning of the story plot was sort of average - not the most exciting beginning, but the ending...Never would have imagined it. I feel as though the whole anonymous 'Girl Online' alias is so cool and I love the idea of being able to blog about anything and nobody can personally attack you for it.

“Every time you post something online, you have a choice.You can either make it something that adds to the happiness levels in the world—or you can make it something that takes away.
I tried to add something by starting Girl Online.
And for a while, it really seemed to be working.
So, next time you go to post a comment or an update or share a link, ask yourself: is this going to add to the happiness in the world?
And if the answer is no, then please delete.
There is enough sadness in the world already. You don’t need to add to it.”

I loved this quote from the book. I think it's a message not only to the characters in the book, but to everyone reading it. I agree with Penny, how there is too much negativity in the world, next time you post a mean comment, think about it, it can have a darker effect on someone than you could ever realise.

The reason I gave this a 5 star rating is because, yes, I did find it an amazing read, and yes, I also would recommend it to anyone reading this. A book which isn't very predictable is always a good sign that it was well written, and I think that this book deserves this.

If I had to compare this book to any other book I read, I would probably say Geek Girl. Although the actual storyline's aren't similar, the main characters have both the same sort of personalities and attitude towards a situation.

Overall this book was incredible! I loved to bits, it's definitely going on my list of all time favourite reads. It was unpredictable, and had your eyes glued to the very end.