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.

Review: Lorali

Lorali
Author:Laura Dockrill
Publication Date: July 2nd 2015
Publisher: Hot Key Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Colourful, raw, brave, rich and fantastical - this mermaid tale is not for the faint-hearted.

Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn't exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from.

Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human.

But along with Lorali's arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory's bemused Sussex town. With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their own. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway

Here's the one thing I learned after reading Lorali, it isn't as sweet, clean or as fluffy as it looks, and I'll be honest, some parts of Lorali were...weird, and were, well, a little eccentric so it was hard to follow, but the one thing I absolutely loved about it? It's unique. 

Review: The Perfectionists (In which my inner bitch comes out to play, bitches.)

The Perfectionists
Author: Sara Shepard
Publication Date: October 2nd 2014        
Publisher: Hot Key Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

In Beacon Heights High, Nolan Hotchkiss is king. His charm, wealth and good looks are deceptively seductive, and many are the students whose lives and reputations have been ruined by it. All while Nolan continues to reign, unquestioned and undisrupted. Until now, that is.

Mackenzie, Ava, Julie, Caitlin and Parker seemingly don't have much in common. Each has their own friends, dramas and goals. But one thing they do share: they all have a deep hatred of Nolan Hotchkiss. And they all think it's about time he paid for what he's done. They come up with the perfect murder - a hypothetical murder, of course. It's all wishful thinking ... until they wake up one morning to find that their wish has come true. Nolan has been killed - in exactly the way they planned. The thing is, they didn't do it. So who did?

Let me introduce to you Pretty Little Liars 2.0 The Perfectionists.

Now, I couldn't get into the Pretty Little Liars books, but I'm addicted to the show,  and The Perfectionists reconfirms why. Yeah, the show is getting as repetitive as the books when it comes to A, he's A, no, she's A, no, she's A. Wait, he's A, no he's A. Wait- who's a, what's an A? Who the fuck is A? The characters are more fleshed out and it's so damn entertaining to watch. Key word watch. When it comes to reading, I however, like more substance that these don't give.

Stacking the Shelves (#47) & Recap. AKA the Boody Mary edition.

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

So, how was everybody's week? It's been a good week here, had a few awesome things in the mail the past 2 weeks, three ones I was hoping for, one of them I've already read and reviewed (also hence the Bloody Mary Edition) Also, I HAVE AFTERWORLDS!

 

Review: Say Her Name

Say Her Name
Author:  James Dawson

Publication Date:  June 5th 2014        
Publisher: Hot Key Books

~A proof copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

 

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Roberta 'Bobbie' Rowe is not the kind of person who believes in ghosts. A Halloween dare at her ridiculously spooky boarding school is no big deal, especially when her best friend Naya and cute local boy Caine agree to join in too. They are ordered to summon the legendary ghost of 'Bloody Mary': say her name five times in front of a candlelit mirror, and she shall appear... But, surprise surprise, nothing happens. Or does it?

Next morning, Bobbie finds a message on her bathroom mirror... five days... but what does it mean? And who left it there? Things get increasingly weird and more terrifying for Bobbie and Naya, until it becomes all too clear that Bloody Mary was indeed called from the afterlife that night, and she is definitely not a friendly ghost. Bobbie, Naya and Caine are now in a race against time before their five days are up and Mary comes for them, as she has come for countless others before... A truly spine-chilling yet witty horror from shortlisted 'Queen of Teen' author James Dawson

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I love horror, but I don't usually find it scary. I've read Anna Dressed in Blood, and while I do love it, I admit, I didn't find it that scary. Say Her Name beats it for the scare factor. Give me blood, gore, serial killers hacking off body pieces and It doesn't faze me at all, but give me psychological stuff like this and I'm screwed.  Say Her Name is my kind of Horror, one that actually scares me.

Review: We Were Liars (Yes, that one.)

We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart

Publication Date:  May 15th 2014        
Publisher: Hot Key Books

~A copy as provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

 

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A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

 

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So, I've been wanting to read We Were Liars for ages, but waited. The first time I read it was with the #liarsliveread on twitter, and reactions really are everything. And emotions are everything, and those hours were well spent. We had to post our reactions to certain pages.