Posts By: Rashika

Thursday, October 27, 2016

ARC Review: Journey’s End by Rachel Hawkins

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I received this book for free from G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

ARC Review: Journey’s End by Rachel HawkinsJourney's End by Rachel Hawkins
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on October 25th, 2015
Genres: Adventure, Paranormal, YA
Source: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
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Goodreads
four-stars

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins brings us a riveting middle grade fantasy-adventure, perfect for fans of Lisa Graff.

The town of Journey's End may not literally be at the end of the world, but it sure feels like it to Nolie Stanhope. Spending the summer with her scientist father in the tiny Scottish village isn't exactly Nolie's idea of a good time, but she soon finds a friend: native Journey's Ender Bel McKissick.

While Nolie's father came to Journey's End to study the Boundary--a mysterious fog bank offshore--Bel's family  can’t afford to consider it a threat.  The McKissick’s livelihood depends on the tourists drawn by legends of a curse. Still, whether you believe in magic or science, going into the Boundary means you'll never come back.

…Unless you do.

Are you looking for a spoopy read for the Halloween season? Have you considered picking up a delightful middle-grade Halloween-esque novel? If so, consider reading this charming novel. I am a huge fan of Rachel Hawkins’ Hex Hall and Rebel Belle series’ so I was all about this book but it wasn’t quite what I expected (not in a bad way.) It has a lot of the fun feel from her YA books but the characters don’t sound the exact same and I LOVE that. They aren’t just the same characters but a little younger and in a different setting.

Journey’s End is a small town located in the middle of nowhere Scotland but it is unlike most small towns because of the magical fog. I think we’ve seen enough scary movies to know that fog isn’t always as great as it seems and usually where all the spooky shit goes down.

The paranormal element of this book is well done and the setting is very atmospheric. Hawkins pays attention to detail and builds a believable world. I love the folk tales, myths and the characters’ stories that work together to create the “real story” of what is happening in this town. Everything is intermingled as stories tend to be. The best part about this novel is seeing the layers peeled back one by one until we get to the bottom of what is actually happening.

There is also an adventure element to this book and I always enjoy that. Adventures and mysteries go well together if I do say so myself 😉 Especially if there is some paranormal thrown in.

Journey’s End also features some of the best characters I’ve read in a while. Nollie’s visiting her father for the summer and Bel is a local of Journey’s End. Both of them are complex characters and I love that there is more to them than just meets the eye. Nollie is witty but also confused about where her family stands after her parents got divorced recently. Bel just got dumped by her best friend for some reason she doesn’t know(if you don’t think this is a big deal, you obviously never had that happen to you in Middle School and you can thank the stars for that because IT REALLY SUCKS) but she is more than the character whose friend dumped her. She is fun, down to Earth and I would totes hang out with her. There is also a third character whose name I won’t mention because spoilers but rest assured, they are fucking hilarious and I LOVE IT. These three kids are very different from one another but become fast friends (because of their situations, loneliness but also because they are perfect for one another.) They are brave, adventurous and lots of fun to hang out with them. Honestly, I have friend-crushes on all of them even though they are 5-6 years younger than me.

Everything just works well in this book. Journey’s End is so much fun to read and so quick too. It represents everything it is I love about a good Middle Grade novel and if you’ve gathered this from my ramblings quite yet, but I really liked this book. Its got good world building, good plot and wonderful characters. What else can a girl want? Basically, you should read it if you enjoy fun middle grade novels or pass it along to someone you know who enjoys fun middle grade novels!

Read this if you enjoy(ed): The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan & John Parke Davis, adventures, spoopy stories.

four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

Reaction Post: This is Shyness by Leanne Hall

Posted by on 10/23/2016 • 0 Comments

This Is Shyness is one of those wonderful Aussie gems that is available on this side of the ocean and I am so glad it is because it is such a beautiful book. I am not going to do a traditional review for this one but want to experiment a little.

Welcome to Shyness, a place where the sun never rises and the people who live there are anything but normal…

THIS IS SHYNESS is about a boy who can howl and a girl trying to escape. Over the course of the night they go on an adventure, explore shyness and discover some things about themselves. They might or might not fall in love while they are at it 😉

Reaction Gifs

At first I was like:

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Exclusive Cover Reveal for This is How it Happened by Paula Stokes + ARC Giveaway

Posted by on 10/17/2016 • 32 Comments

I know its a Monday and everyone is like UGH, weekend come back again, but today we are hosting an exclusive cover reveal for THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED by Paula Stokes so I am actually excited about it being a Monday (*gasp*)

 

Not only is Stokes a wonderful human, she is also a wonderful writer and having read four of her books, I can say this with confidence. Girl Against the Universe is one of my favorite books of 2016 and Vicarious is an equally amazing action filled novel that came out this year so there are books by her out in the world that you could already be checking out and fangirling over.

 

Anywayy (I am quite the talker, aren’t I?) I am REALLY REALLY excited for THIS IS HOW…

Review: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Posted by on 10/14/2016 • 12 Comments

Feels in a gif:

I usually find it hard to express all my feels about a book in a singular gif but with The Hating Game, it was quite easy. Actual pic of me after I finished the book.

I haven’t read a rom-com I loved this much in years and I think The Hating Game encompasses everything I love about good rom-coms and a good romance. It made me feel so mushy and happy on the inside and I am glad that The Hating Game found its way into my life. This book has already received so much hype and so many people are already loving it so instead of doing a review review, I thought I’d list 5 quick reasons that might make you want to pick this book up.

1. Main…

5 Books With Well-Written Unlikeable Main Characters

Posted by on 10/11/2016 • 5 Comments

I firmly believe that just because a character is unlikable doesn’t mean that they are not well-written. In fact, I love reading the occasional anti-hero because I love their character arcs and I love the struggle between good & evil present in books with well-written anti-heroes. With The Young Elites series coming to an end, I was inspired to compile a little list of some of my fav unlikable characters.

1. The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Since this post is inspired by the series, it makes sense that the first book I mention is The Young Elites. Adelina is NOT likeable but you sympathize with her and you hurt for her. Unfortunately, all that doesn’t magically make her good and over the course of the series, she spirals further down as her…

Review: The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Posted by on 10/07/2016 • 8 Comments

I KNOW IT’S TOO EARLY to be reading Christmas-y books but I am already getting into the mood for the holidays and I really wanted to be reunited with Dash & Lily so I READ THE BOOK and it was 100% worth it. Also, to be fair, this book comes out this month so I am allowed to read a christmas-y book in October.

The biggest issue I had with this book (because rarely is a book perfect) is that it was a lot more angsty than the original Dash & Lily. Lily was justified in being angsty but the lack of communication between Dash & Lily was so off-putting given that they had been good at in the first book. If Dash & Lily just talked to each other,…

Review: Frazzled by Booki Vivat

Posted by on 10/05/2016 • 3 Comments

I just started my last-ish year of college and the main character of Frazzled starts middle school in this book yet despite the clear age difference, never has a book been more applicable to my life.

Frazzled is absolutely adorable, quotable and extremely relatable. It’s about many things. Familial relationships, changing friendships and the need to find your “thing”. I think we can all agree that finding your “thing” is not as easy as it seems. It is actually quite stressful and Abbie Wu would agree with you.

Abbie is not at all excited to start middle school (I mean who would be?) because it is “the middle of all middles” and is thus guaranteed to suck. When school starts, she struggles with the change but her friends find…

Epic Cover Battles #13: Harry Potter Edition

Posted by on 10/03/2016 • 6 Comments

You’ve probably heard of Harry Potter unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past two decades. You either hate it, love it, have watched the movies or have some sort of opinion about the series (even if it’s “I DONT GIVE A FUCK”.) This series has been published in so many different languages and there are SO many editions available which means there are lots of pretty covers. Today we’re going to be battling different Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone editions and you get to vote on which one is your fav. Have another fav that was not included (this is VERY likely)? Let me know in the comments so I can ooh and aah over it 😉

May the best cover win!