It'll Make You Lose Your Concentr8ion (Because it's boring, not because of the ADHD)

Concentr8
Author: William Sutcliffe
Publication Date: August 27th 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
 ~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

In a future London, Concentr8 is a prescription drug intended to help kids with ADD. Soon every troubled teen is on it. It makes sense, doesn't it? Keep the undesirable elements in line. Keep people like us safe from people like them. What's good for society is good for everyone. Troy, Femi, Lee, Karen and Blaze have been taking Concentr8 as long as they can remember. They're not exactly a gang, but Blaze is their leader, and Troy has always been his quiet, watchful sidekick - the only one Blaze really trusts. They're not looking for trouble, but one hot summer day, when riots break out across the city, they find it. What makes five kids pick a man seemingly at random - a nobody, he works in the housing department, doesn't even have a good phone - hold a knife to his side, take him to a warehouse and chain him to a radiator? They've got a hostage, but don't really know what they want, or why they've done it. And across the course of five tense days, with a journalist, a floppy-haired mayor, a police negotiator, and the sinister face of the pharmaceutical industry, they - and we - begin to understand why ...This is a book about what how we label children. It's about how kids get lost and failed by the system. It's about how politicians manipulate them. Gripping and controversial reading for fans of Malorie Blackman and Patrick Ness

DNF'ing 170 pages in, because I tried, okay? I spent ages getting through the first 100 pages, just hoping it would get better. It didn't. I'm bored out of my mind. Seriously bored. Watching paint dry would be more interesting, I know it sounds harsh, but honestly, I would rather watch paint dry.

One

One
Author: Sarah Crossan
Publication Date: August 26th 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Grace and Tippi are twins – conjoined twins.

And their lives are about to change.

No longer able to afford homeschooling, they must venture into the world – a world of stares, sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at school? Can they find real friends? And what about love?

But what neither Grace or Tippi realises is that a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead. A decision that could tear them apart. One that will change their lives even more than they ever imagined…

From Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this moving and beautifully crafted novel about identity, sisterhood and love ultimately asks one question: what does it mean to want and have a soulmate?

One is my first book of Sarah Crossan's, and by that standard, it won't be my last, I'm going to go more into depth of why I liked it in a minute, in a way that I don't usually format my reviews, so I'll go into what I wasn't that keen on now. My issue with One isn't the format, that was great, and surprised me, but the problem was that I couldn't connect to the characters, at all. I mean, I felt for them, and I got into it, but there was just no attachment for me, and while I think the format is great and it works better than I thought it would, maybe that's why it felt like a lost connection.

Beyond Clueless (Seriously, totally clueless.)

Beyond Clueless
Author: Linas Alsenas
Publication Date: August 18th 2015
Publisher: Amulet Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Marty Sullivan’s life ends, basically, when her parents enroll her in a private high school. A private, Catholic, girls-only high school. Meanwhile, at their local public school, her best friend, Jimmy, comes out of the closet and finds himself a boyfriend and a new group of friends. Marty feels left out and alone, until she gets a part in the school musical, Into the Woods, and Jimmy and his new crew are in it, too! Things start looking even better when Marty falls for foxy fellow cast member Felix Peroni. And Felix seems to like her back. But the drama is just beginning. Can Marty and Jimmy keep up their friendship? And is Marty’s new beau everything he appears to be? Or is Marty too clueless to figure it all out before it’s too late?

Beyond Clueless is very appropriately named. Seriously. Very. Appropriately. Named. Why? Because our main character, Marty is very, well, clueless. (Oh, don't look at me like that, you knew that was coming.)  And she's clueless in a lot of ways, and naivety is definitely one of them, one where somebody can take advantage of that. But the two main ways, the misunderstanding is understandable, I mean, you would just assume, but the other way? I kind of wanted to shake her and get her to open her eyes.

Trouble is a Friend of Mine (Not so much if you live in Haven.)

Trouble is a Friend of Mine

Author: Stephanie Tromly
Publication Date: August 6th 2015 
Publisher: Hot Key Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Sherlock meets The Breakfast Club in this story of a wisecracking girl who meets a weird but brilliant boy and their roller-coaster of a semester that's one part awkward, three parts thrilling, and five parts awesome

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 centered 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.

I don’t know how to feel about Trouble is a Friend of Mine, and I don’t know what Trouble is a Friend of Mine is supposed to be, mainly because I don’t think the book knows what it’s supposed to be. A mystery? A coming of age with quirky characters and a mystery? A coming of age with quirky characters who investigate a missing person’s case with a side of what the actual fuck?  Don’t get me wrong, it was weird but fun and definitely quirky, but at the same time as being fun and weird and quirky, it annoyed the hell out of me because WHAT IS IT ABOUT REALLY? Because besides the mystery element, there are some weird and random scenes and some truly awful characters with nothing behind them and I had no idea where it was supposed to be going, and not in a what-the-hell-is-going-on in an endearing way and more a what-the-hell-is-going-on-side-you-make-no-sense-side-eye way.

Blog Tour: What You Left Behind, Guest Post by Jessica Verdi

What You Left Behind
Author: Jessica Verdi 
Publication Date: August 4th 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead, he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.

The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions, and Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?

You guys, I am so ecstatic about having Jessica Verdi on the blog today, talking about parents in YA, because let's be honest, we all know how parents in YA usually goes, and fortunately, that is definitely not a problem in What You Left Behind. Which, *cough* coincidence *cough* is out now!

Read The Dead House in the day, unless you like nightmares, then by all means, go ahead. Don't say I didn't say, I didn't warn ya. #DarkSummerRead

The Dead House
Author: Dawn Kurtagich (Who, is awesome, just saying.)
Publication Date: August 6th, 2015
Publisher: Orion Children's Books 
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Part-psychological thriller, part-urban legend, this is an unsettling narrative made up of diary entries, interview transcripts, film footage transcripts and medical notes. Twenty-five years ago, Elmbridge High burned down. Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin . . . 

Re-opened police records, psychiatric reports, transcripts of video footage and fragments of diary reveal a web of deceit and intrigue, violence and murder, raising a whole lot more questions than it answers.

Who was Kaitlyn and why did she only appear at night? Did she really exist or was she a figment of a disturbed mind? What were the illicit rituals taking place at the school? And just what did happen at Elmbridge in the events leading up to ‘the Johnson Incident’?

Chilling, creepy and utterly compelling, THE DEAD HOUSE is one of those very special books that finds all the dark places in your imagination, and haunts you long after you've finished reading.

You guys know I love Psychological Thrillers and Horror, right? So having The Dead House as part Psychological Thriller and Horror? The Dead House couldn't get any more of a me book,  and it was one hell of a crazy ride, and honesty? Fucking whoa. That's pretty much what I was thinking the whole way through it.

Two words to appropriately sum up The Dead House (that isn't holy shit, because holy shit.) is psychologically disturbing. I'll get my issue out of the way because I only have one problem with it, and starting it, I thought that it would have been the format of how the story is told, but it wasn't. And it wasn't having a connection, like my major issue in books are, but it wasn't that either (not that I had a connection, because really, I don't expect it with the genre, especially because you can't trust any character. And I mean, any character. My main issues is that I felt two completely different things about the first half and the second half.

Review: Dangerous Boys (OH.MY.GOD)

Dangerous Boys
Author: Abigail Haas
Publication Date: August 14th 2014        
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

 Three teens venture into the abandoned Monroe estate one night; hours later, only two emerge from the burning wreckage. Chloe drags one Reznick brother to safety, unconscious and bleeding; the other is left to burn, dead in the fire. But which brother survives? And is his death a tragic accident? Desperate self-defense? Or murder?
Chloe is the only one with the answers. As the fire rages, and police and parents demand the truth, she struggles to piece together the story of how they got there-a story of jealousy, twisted passion, and the darkness that lurks behind even the most beautiful of faces

Dangerous Girls was on my radar last year, and although it had all these amazing reviews I didn't think it was for me. When I saw Dangerous Boys and thought why not? Why not indeed, because oh damn. I just- NO WORDS. So this will probably be a rambling review because it's one of those that are hard to talk about without spoiling, but is so freaking mind blowing that I just want to spoil it. But, I won't. Because you seriously need to read it for yourself and get all the feelings because it is amazing and twisted with a heavy dose of psychology and is it bad to say how much I freaking love how twisted it was? It has some serious shit going on, and something like this you shouldn't really love but I did, because it was fascinating and  see? Rambling.

Review: Between the Lives

Between the Lives
Author: Jessica Shirvington
Publication Date: July 8th 2014        
Publisher: Orchard Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

The perfect life or the perfect love. You choose.

For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she shifts to her 'other' life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she's a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she's considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.

With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments that bring her dangerously close to the life she's always wanted. But if she can only have one life, which is the one she'll choose?

A compelling psychological thriller about a girl who lives two parallel lives - this is Sliding Doors for the YA audience.

While I did really enjoy Between the Lives, there was something missing for me that kept me from really loving it, I don't even know what it was either, or maybe it was just a few little issues, but still, it was different from what I was expecting (in a good way). A girl who lives two lives, a parallel world type, so you think fun, right? That's what I thought, turns out it's not as fun as you think.