friendship

The Dog, Ray by Linda Coggin

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Published: October 1st 2015 by Hot Key Books (first published August 1st 2010)

Age Rating: 9+

Pages: 288

Thank you to Ms Coggin and Hot Key Books for giving me a copy to read in exchange for a honest review.

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*     *     *     *     *     S y n o p s i s     *     *     *     *     *

A girl, a dog, a boy, a journey.

“When my death came, it was swift. Swift as a racing horse.”

Twelve-year-old Daisy has just died in a car crash. But in a twist of fate, and through a heavenly bureaucratic mistake Daisy ends up, not where she is supposed to be – but in the body of a dog. Daisy may now be inhabiting a dog’s body, but inside she is still very much Daisy, and is as bouncy, loyal, positive, energetic as she ever was.

Daisy’s only thought is to somehow be reunited with her parents, who she knows will be missing her. And this is how she meets Pip, a boy who is homeless and on his own journey, and a lasting, tender and very moving friendship between boy and dog/girl is formed.

A charming and beautifully written story with a bit of quirk and a lot of heart.

*     *     *     *     *     M y      T h o u g h t s    *     *     *     *     *

Yes, this book is a story of death and reincarnation, but it’s also a story of love, friendship and second chances. It is heart-breaking and heart-warming all at the same time. It is quite an easy read, that has a nice flow and fast pace.

In Taking the wrong door, Daisy who was a twelve-year-old girl, goes into a new life as a new born puppy with all her memories. The door she was supposed to take would have erased her memories, wiping her slate clean.

Dog Daisy is determined to get back to her human parents and recreate some former resemblance of her old life – this doesn’t go very well.

A sequence of events (I don’t want to give too much away!) finds Daisy out on her own and struggling to stay alive a stray dog. Fate and a drifter named Jack bring Pip and her together. It is Pip who gives Daisy the name Ray (as in a ray of sunshine), which is the first step in Daisy’s healing process.

Pip is a fourteen-year-old boy who has run away from his foster carers on a mission to track down his father.

Pip and Ray need each other and they form a deep and pure bond.

There are plenty of twists and turns in Pip and Ray’s adventure/search for Pip’s dad and even though it’s not what he imagined, Pip gets a happy ending.

Slowly Daisy slips away as she comes to terms with her death and embraces the life of Ray. In the end she is at peace and happy.

The way Ms Coggin wrote the way Ray thought was believable and I felt she captured the heart of a dog beautifully in this book.

It is a sweet story with some beautiful characters that I don’t think I’ll forget any time soon.

Purchase Links:

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Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly

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trouble

 

Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly

Published 6th August 2015

304 pages paperback

Thanks to the author, Hot Key Books and The Five Mile Press for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis mk3“Of course I didn’t like Digby when I first met him. No one does.”

“Preparing to survive a typical day of being Digby’s friend wasn’t that different from preparing to survive the Apocalypse.”

The first time Philip Digby shows up on Zoe Webster’s doorstep, he’s rude and he treats her like a book he’s already read and knows the ending to.

But before she knows it, Zoe’s allowed Digby—annoying, brilliant, and somehow…attractive? Digby—to drag her into a series of hilarious, dangerous, and only vaguely legal schemes all related to the kidnapping of a local teenage girl. A kidnapping that might be connected to the tragic disappearance of his little sister eight years ago. When it comes to Digby, Zoe just can’t say no.

But is Digby a hero? Or is his manic quest an indication of a desperate attempt to repair his broken family and exorcize his own obsessive-compulsive tendencies? And does she really care anyway?

This is a contemporary debut with razor-sharp dialogue, ridiculously funny action, and a dynamic duo you won’t soon forget.

planet digby

After her parents get divorced, high school junior Zoe Webster moves with her mother from Brooklyn to upstate New York, determined to get back to the city and transfer to the elite private school her father insists on. But then she meets Philip Digby–the odd and brilliant and somehow attractive?–Digby, and soon finds herself in a series of hilarious and dangerous situations all centred on his search for the kidnapper of a local teenage girl who may know something about the tragic disappearance of his kid sister eight years ago. Before she knows it, Zoe has vandalized an office complex with fake snow, pretended to buy drugs alongside a handsome football star dressed like the Hulk, had a serious throw down with a possible religious cult, challenged her controlling father, and, oh yeah, saved her new hometown.
For fans of John Green and David Levithan, this is a crime novel where catching the crook isn’t the only hook, a romance where the leading man is decidedly unromantic, a friendship story where they aren’t even sure they like each other, and a debut you won’t soon forget.

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My Thoughts mk3My first thought upon finishing this book was “God, I hope they do a sequel! I want to know what Digby finds out off of Ezekiel about his sister.”

I think the synopsis above comprehensively lays the story out. If your not hooked by that hook, then I’m not sure what I can tell you. I’m giving this book Five Stars. I had a lot of fun reading it.

Hot Key Books labels this book as 50% Mystery, 30% Humour, 20% Friendship. There is a twisting and turning Who-Done-It-vibe the whole way though. Teenagers just trying to survive being teenagers. Heart warming moments. Multiple creepy bad guys. And tonnes of fun.

By the end of the second page I was hooked on the story and hooked on Digby “the local troublemaker”. Sixteen year old me would have been eating her heart out over Digby.

Right from the start Digby causes Zoe grief and gets her into trouble, and that trouble is addictive. The way Digby sasses every one rubs off on Zoe and it’s for the better as she finally stands up to her ass of a father.

While the kidnapping of the local teenage girl is solved. The mystery of Digby’s little sisters disappearance deepens and we are left with a Kiss and open ending to the book.

I loved Digby, Zoe, Henry and Felix. Especial Felix when he comes flying out of the Ambulance towards the end – Ok I’m just going stop, I wouldn’t want to give any of the surprises away.

I tweeted Mrs Tromly in regards to the unfinished business at the end of book and bless her she tweeted me back within minutes saying that YES, a sequel named Trouble Makes a Comeback will be out next year. I’m excited.

5sAuthor’s Links mk3

tromly

 

Stephanie Tromly was born in Manila, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives with her husband and son in Winnipeg. She is working on her PhD in English Literature.

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The Feral Child by Che Golden

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The Feral Child (Feral Child Trilogy #1) by Che Golden

Published in 2012 by Quercus UK

266 Pages

Synopsis mk3“Gripping, mystical and adventurous, young readers will be as hooked as Maddy was the minute she set foot inside that creepy as hell old castle,” Irish World said of The Feral Child.

Maddy, an orphan, is sick of her Irish town, and sick of her cousin Danny, one of the nastiest people you could meet. Mad as hell one evening, she crawls inside the grounds of the castle, the one place she has always been forbidden to go. Once inside, she is chased by a strange feral boy, who she suspects is one of the faerie: cruel, fantastical people who live among humans and exchange local children for their own.

When the boy returns to steal her neighbor Stephen into his world, Maddy and her cousins set off on a terrifying journey into a magical wilderness, determined to bring him back home. To do so, they must face an evil as old as the earth itself.

Che Golden has created a gripping adventure that interweaves Maddy’s modern Irish experience with the vivid fantasy of the region’s ancient folklore. Readers will enjoy the frank and bold heroine of Maddy, and will be dazzled by The Feral Child‘s evocative rendering of Irish folklore and richly imagined alternate worlds. +Goodreads button

My Thoughts mk3

Going off the synopsis I thought I was going to love this book, but sadly I wasn’t as enchanted as I expected to be – Never the less it was a sweet fast paced easy read. The fae in this story are not sparkly wish granting flower hugging sweetie pies and therefore probably more believable.

After losing both her parents Maddy, the 10 year old protagonist, ends up living in Ireland with her elderly grandparents. Maddy has two cousins that join her on her adventures; Roisin was lovely, but Danny wasn’t very realistic – little boys do not have changes of heart that quickly. And that malicious Aunt hell bent on taking Maddy away from her grandparents, owww I couldn’t stand her.

Maddy is angry at the world and everyone in it (understandably) and the fae target her because of the great anger and pain she harbours inside. The pain she holds inside her nearly gets her killed in the magical realm, twice! I think this story holds an important lesson to be learnt for the Middle Grade audience it was written for. And I doubt that any faults I found with the stories rushed character development would even be noticed by that target audience. Ten year old me would have eaten this up thinking it was the most fantastical thing ever!

The highlight of the book for me was Maddy’s adorable dog George, he added humour to the story and Maddy realising her deep love for her Grandparents.

While I found that some parts of the story were far too rushed, overall the book was enjoyable and there were some really wonderful parts in the story that made reading it worthwhile.

3s

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

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8909152Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Published April 14th 2011 by Dutton Adult

Synopsis mk3

“Hi, I’m the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . “

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now- reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

+Goodreads buttonMy Thoughts mk3 I am seriously fan girl-ing right now, I just went and followed all Rowell’s social medias so I could stalk her, umm I mean see what book she has coming out next.

I was in love with this book by the first few pages. I think this is the fastest I’ve ever devoured a book. I got the book that morning and read it all that day. That’s a new record for me. (i’m writing this review two days later). I came up for air, once, to put up a Goodreads update – Page 48: Loving this book and thinking “why have I not read any Rainbow Rowell until now”.

I finished the book late-ish Friday night – Page 322: Love Love Loved this book. I’m jumping up and down and smiling, LOVED IT – review to come 🙂. I only open it it intending to have a look and reading it later when I was on holidays. Just the first few pages had me hooked and I didn’t go to bed until I’d finished it. I loved Rowell’s writing, her humour, snappy dialogue and devour-able prose.

The Main Characters: Lincoln O’Neill, Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder; I love them all and they are now my imaginary best friends 😛 what I wouldn’t give to have a working friendship like Beth and Jennifer’s. The characters are all 28 (my age) and it’s nice to see other people not having there s**t together. It’s a funny, heart-warming story that feels real. My favorite books usually involve magic, mythological or paranormal creatures, but Rowell’s left me feeling happier than any book has in a long time. I was smiling like I’d just won the lotto when I finished the last page.

The story swaps between Lincoln “page shots” of Beth and Jennifer’s emails and Lincoln in the 3rd person. The story is set back in 1999/2000, the whole point being that people didn’t have iPhones etc. back then so we see the two female leads converse using inter office email. Then there is the poor smuck Lincoln that has to monitor those inter office emails. At this time 1999/2000 I was in high school and they did monitor your computer use, I know this because I got in trouble off the librarian once for some “inappropriate” story I was writing.

The girls are immediately like-able. But for me Lincoln became the star of the show. He was lonely and stuck in a rut. He hated his dead end job that made him feel like a perverse nut job. Now I can see why some people mightn’t like this, they might write Lincoln off as a creepy loser. But I love how we get to watch him grow, watch him try to be a better person and succeed. He gets out of his rut, he gets his s**t together and he gets the girl, the right girl! Go Lincoln Go!

I love Lincoln, yeah so what if he fell for Beth while reading her emails –Ah hello, he gave Jennifer his MacDonald’s while he changed her flat tyre in a storm, super hero! – Beth did some Lincoln stalking as well, so meh, all’s fair in love and war. I did some house drive by stalking when I was younger LOL and he married me, my husband the silly man.

So Five Stars. I’m going to leave it at that because if I try to tell you anymore about the story I’ll give it all away.

5sAuthor’s Links mk3 Rainbow Rowell writes books.

Sometimes she writes about adults (Attachments and Landline).

Sometimes she writes about teenagers (Eleanor & Park, Fangirl and Carry On.).

But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they’re screwing up. And people who fall in love.

When she’s not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don’t really matter in the big scheme of things.

She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.

Website – http://www.rainbowrowell.com

Twitter – https://twitter.com/rainbowrowell

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/rainbow.rowell.author

Instagram – https://instagram.com/rainbowrowellbooks/

Tumblr – http://rainbowrowell.tumblr.com/

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4208569.Rainbow_Rowell

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

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18392459We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Release date: April 1, 2015

Thank you Simon & Schuster Australia for giving me an ARC to read and review

Synopsis mk3Four high school seniors put their hopes, hearts, and humanity on the line as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth in this contemporary novel.

They always say that high school is the best time of your life.

Peter, the star basketball player at his school, is worried “they” might actually be right. Meanwhile Eliza can’t wait to escape Seattle—and her reputation—and perfect-on-paper Anita wonders if admission to Princeton is worth the price of abandoning her real dreams. Andy, for his part, doesn’t understand all the fuss about college and career—the future can wait.

Or can it? Because it turns out the future is hurtling through space with the potential to wipe out life on Earth. As these four seniors—along with the rest of the planet—wait to see what damage an asteroid will cause, they must abandon all thoughts of the future and decide how they’re going to spend what remains of the present.

My Thoughts mk3When I finished reading the last page I actually laughed at loud “that’d be right”. I closed the cover and muttered to myself “that’s brilliant”. Yep, I LOVED IT. And dare I say, I think it’s going to be the next big thing, I’m imagining the closing credits for the movie adaptation already.

I finished We All Looked Up on Sunday morning and I’ve been trying to figure how to write a review to do it justice ever since. Wallach’s writing is beautiful, easy to read, emotional and powerful.

We get backgrounds on the four view point characters and then follow them as they learn that there is an asteroid tearing toward earth with a 66.6% chance of impact, with the possible collision being so catastrophic it will wipe out the world. The four viewpoints are: the all-around golden boy and Jock Peter, the promiscuous and artsy Eliza, the good girl and overachiever Anita and the stoner and slacker Andy. Wallach uses teenage stereotypes and makes them feel real. He gives a world of complicated characters to care for and despise all at once. There is a little bit of all of us in this story somewhere.

We follow them as they try to survive until the end, as they try to deal with and make sense of their lives, as the world goes crazy and they try to come to terms with death. There are inner demons faced and new friendships made. The story keeps moving on, revolving through the different viewpoints. The different points of view flow beautifully and I enjoyed getting in all their heads.

The ending was open and leaves us to ponder. I’d like to think this book might make a few teens wake up to themselves. What would you do if the world was coming to an end? I found a few parts hard to swallow, mainly Anita’s struggle of living her life for everyone other than herself, as I feel that way sometimes, so that made me contemplate my own situation.

best booksFIVE STARS for the next big thing > > > We All Looked Up.

Five StarsAuthor’s Links mk3Website – http://www.tommywallach.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/tommywallachland

Twitter – https://twitter.com/tommywallach

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18392459-we-all-looked-up

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/snovision

Tumblr – http://wealllookedup.tumblr.com/

I was Here by Gayle Forman

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18879761Synopsis

Cody and Meg were inseparable.

Two peas in a pod.

Until . . . they weren’t anymore.

When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.

I Was Here is Gayle Forman at her finest, a taut, emotional, and ultimately redemptive story about redefining the meaning of family and finding a way to move forward even in the face of unspeakable loss.

My Thoughts

I will just say that Gayle Forman is a phenomenal writer; this story flowed beautifully and was extremely easy to read. I received this free advance reading copy of ‘I Was Here’ thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia, with its official release being the 1st February.

…he has this expression on his face –it’s the particular contortion when fury meets guilt. And I know that look. I see it every day in the mirror.

Throughout this book we see Cody struggling to come to terms with the sudden and surprising suicide of her life long best friend Meg –Meg who she’d always held up on a pedestal –and struggling to come to terms with being left behind. Cody’s pain is natural and it feels real. Cody is wracked with the “it’s my fault” syndrome and is desperate to find someone to blame. In her effort to deal, she digs deep into the life that Meg tried to hide, enlisting the friends she meets along the way and uncovering some very disturbing truths.

To start off with we see Cody push everyone away. She is weak, scared, and a pretty crappy friend. But slowly we see her step out of her comfort zone and come to life with the determination (as she sees it) to avenge her fallen friend. We see Cody finally come to terms with Meg’s death and finally have the courage to forgive Meg and exonerate herself.

The romance between Cody and Ben is very cliché and unnecessary, but Cody’s love for Meg and her growing friendships with the other characters are more than strong enough to pull the story along.

Lastly we see Cody move on with her life, taking the lessons learnt with her.

I give it **** Four Stars (It’s quite a hard book to review as it’s a hard topic to deal with – I really don’t think my review has done the book justice).

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CHASING THE DEMON

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CHASING THE DEMON
(Book 2 of The ‘Gateway’ series)
By Louise G. White

Chasing the Demon cover

Synopsis:

The system has been changing, the Agency flaunts its cruel practises and the balance of the realms is disrupted. Ethan’s enforcers are already stretched to the limits with policing the realms, and things get worse when partnerships develop between the worst of the Demon realms.

Meanwhile on Empustat, Carolyn has spent an entire year being pampered and ‘reconditioned’, her memories wiped and replaced to produce a limited and vapid Princess. Under the constraints of the Chief, she is no longer the feared and mythical destroyer. Carolyn lives a life of privilege, expected to marry her father’s second in command and produce heirs for the realm. Her friend Mario, in contrast, has suffered hardship and humiliation at the hands of the Lilim Guard – A chance encounter between the pair is surely a step towards Carolyn’s awakening.

The disabled gateway has frustrated the team’s efforts to reach Carolyn, and Ethan can barely suffer Note’s presence, but both mage and demon share the same goals. Hope rekindles by way of an unexpected source which leads to the team embarking on a plan so daring that that their survival hangs in the balance. With old and new friends from the realms, bias and loyalties will be challenged as the fight for order truly begins.

My thoughts:

Oh why did it end, I just wanted to keep reading.

I’m really am at a loss as what to write, as anything I write won’t do this book justice…………….

Louise is an amazing writer, she depicts these other worlds so well that I feel as if I am there, it’s as if they are real. Her vivid descriptions really are a delight. The way it jumped between the characters really pushed the pace of the story along, I couldn’t put it down. All the things I loved about the first book were amplified and grown on.

In this the second instalment of the Gateway series we get our old favourites from the first book with the injection of a few new characters that really spice things up and add humour to it all. Louise offers us up; Romance, Friendship, Loyalty, Action, Adventure, Good versus Evil and Multiple Worlds to tickle our fancy. I loved the ending as it leads to so many possibilities, even Ethan’s in with a chance (I hope).

I’m not going to say anything else as I don’t want to give the story away – It’s awesome – GO READ IT.

If you haven’t read the first one:
THE CALLING 
(Book 1 of The ‘Gateway’ series)
By Louise G. White

the calling

Synopsis:
On the run and hiding from the suits, Carolyn’s life is far from straightforward. After her mother and brother go missing in a most extraordinary way, (through a hole to another world which appears in the kitchen wall!), she is determined to track them down and bring them home. But life is never that easy! Rescued and protected by a group of unusual and likeminded people, Carolyn hones her magic and fighting skills. Whilst answering a call to retrieve a human from another world she is faced with a quick decision and ends up bringing a demon back with her. Little did she know what effect this demon would have on her. As each day passes her strengths grow and her magic develops to assist her in her quest to track down her family, but there are decisions to make that will affect the rest of her life..

Louise

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Vaempires: Revolution By Thomas Winship

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Vaempires: Revolution By Thomas Winship

 Synopsis:

 It is the morning of Princess Cassandra’s sixteenth birthday. Everyone’s attention is focused on the heir to the vampire throne. World leaders, the rich and famous, and VIPs from every corner of the globe have gathered in the nation’s capital to celebrate the momentous event.

Cassandra’s boyfriend, Daniel, is late for the party. He’s still outside the city when all hell breaks loose. What he believes is an act of terrorism proves to be a full-fledged revolution. Vaempires-former vampires who mutated into warm-blooded creatures with an insatiable hunger for cold blood-have launched coordinated attacks across the globe, with three goals: the eradication of humanity, the enslavement of vampires, and the ascension of vaempires as the dominant species on the planet.

The vampire and human leaders are killed. Cassandra is missing. Daniel is the acting king. Desperate to find the princess, Daniel and his friends fight their way across the besieged city. With the hopes of the free world resting on the shoulders of four vampire teenagers, vaempires unleash their secret weapon: a new breed of vaempire that is far deadlier than any ever seen before.

What can four teens do against an enemy that can shape-shift, fly, and walk through walls?

My Thoughts:

The story is non-stop action from the first page and as it continues we get friendship and romance added to the mix.

The story is set in a future earth where World War Three happened, caused a Nuclear Winter that nearly destroyed the whole planet and in turn created Vampires, LOVE IT.

I really enjoyed that it’s not Humans vs. Vampires. Vampires are the dominant species, the good guys, the ones being attacked and their world destroyed. An even more mutated race Vaempires are the bad guys slaughtering humans and vampire’s as they attempt to take control. The main characters felt real and I immediately cared about them. As I got closer to the end of this book I thought I knew how it was going to end, but the ending shocked me, I didn’t see it coming. Five out of five stars, I’m really looking forward to reading the next instalment.