The Sky Is Everywhere - A Review By Jandy Nelson

What is it about?

Grieving for her sister, Bailey, John Lennon aka Lennie meets Joe, both are musically talented. Will they make beautiful music together.

Who is it for?

Young adults and adults who are young at heart.

Genre?

Teenage Angst/Romance

Is it any good?  

This is a sweet story, written from Lennies perspective. Beautifully written, she is battling with herself over whether she should be grieving or falling in love. Enter her sisters ex-boyfriend, Toby; being there for eachother, both are misplacing their feelings and emotions. New boy Joe is caught in the middle and love blossoms. Very angst book, but I loved it.

There is also a sub-plot involving Lennie an her bereavd family: Uncle Big and Grams. They brought the two sisters up, after their mum left and with no sign of a father; relations have become strained. Sweet Joe with his dead bugs and croissants helps to heal this broken family. 

The missing mum also features in a very absent role, but it is an element that was required in order for their lives to move forward.

This is a very sweet sincere first book by Jandy Nelson, dealing with grief and first loves. This is a love quadrangle narrative, which pulls on the heart strings.

Was the ending satisfactory?

Yes it was the ending I hoped for. I won't spoil it for you, but this book needs a sequel. I want to learn more about the missing parents and everything. Still loved it though.

Would I recommend the book? 

Yes of course I want your heart strings pulled.

Read it if you like: 

After You by Jojo Moyes

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven 

Mobile Library - A Review By Laura

What is it about?

Bobby Nusku is nearly alone in the world. He spends his nights meticulously archiving the traces his long-absent mother left behind. He spends his days plotting with his only friend, Sunny, trying to contrive ways to protect himself from neighborhood bullies and an abusive father. But the stories they tell and the realities they live are painfully far apart, and when Sunny is forced to move away, Bobby fears he has no one else to turn to.
Then Bobby encounters two outcasts like himself: Rosa, a girl with a red tricycle who collects names in her notebook and whose disability invites the scorn of the same bullies that haunt Bobby; and Val, her mother, a lonely divorcee who cleans the towns mobile library for work. They connect deeply, filling the gaps in each others lives, but the bond between the older woman and young boy also draws the towns suspicion and outrage, as rumors begin to fly about the nature of their relationship. Val loses her job, Bobby is beaten severely by his father, and, with worse sure to follow, they abscond with Rosa in their sixteen-wheel bookmobile, embarking on a picaresque adventure that comes to rival those in the classic books that fill their library on wheels.

Who is it for? 

Young adults and older

Genre?

Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

Is it any good?

This book has left a lasting impression on me, so much so that if it is on the recalls in work I will not send it back, I also rave about it so much that I have a lady coming into work who I recommended it to for her bookclub and now every time she is flying out she will come and find me for more recommendations. I usually struggle to write reviews about books I have read more than a few weeks ago, I found this one effortless, if that doesn't tell you something I don't know what will.

It was the cover of the book that first drew me to this book, the cover is so pretty and its a book about books, you all probably know how I feel about that by now. When I read the synopsis I was so intregued I bought it without a moment of hesitation. From the instant that you meet the main characters of this book you feel for them, which helps with going through the emotions with the characters throughout the book, the good the bad and the ugly. 

I found the way in which the book began with the ending really interesting, the way David Whitehouse cleverly structured this book making it impossible to put down until you reach the ending for how they managed to get themselves in that situation. I also loved that this book was not predictable in any way shape or form.

Was the ending satisfactory? 

Very much so, it broke my heart on both a sweet way and a sad way. I knew sort of what was coming because the first chapter of the book begins with the beginning of the end but I would never have guessed the outcome.

Would I recommend the book? 

I would and I do and I have been for about a year now

Read it if you like:

I can't think of anything else like it so far, it truly is one of a kind.

Thoughts For 50 - Pages 253 - 300 Of The Sudden Appearance Of Hope By Claire North

My name is Hope Arden, and you won't know who I am. We've met before - a thousand times. I am the girl the world forgets.
It started when I was sixteen years old. A slow declining, an isolation, one piece at a time.
A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A teacher who forgets to chase my missing homework. A friend who looks at me and sees a stranger.
No matter what I do, the words I say, the people I hurt, the crimes I commit - you will never remember who I am.
That makes my life difficult. It also makes me dangerous...
THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF HOPE is the tale of a girl no one remembers, yet her story will stay with you forever.

Lauras Thoughts

I don't know what it is maybe I had some of that brain testing/surgery that Hope had during this segment but I think I may have enjoyed that. Claire is slowly starting to focus less on useless facts and filling the pages up and actually writing a fictional story again now!

I'm starting to find that I am slowly gaining an understanding of Hope and who she is, I feel like Claire North has been quite clever in the way that she is now allowing us to see a bit of who Hope is as Hope is begining to trust and let people in. Maybe North wanted us to feel like the other characters when meeting Hope, as though she was a stranger to us aswell.

 

Jens Thoughts

Every week I have to pick up this book, I think: ‘do I have to?’ I have never picked it up wanting to read it. It’s not like with our previous ‘Thoughts for Fifty’ book, were it was a joy to read every week. It’s like I am constantly waiting for something to happen. The characters I tend to forget too, it’s probably not Claire North’s fault: this book was not meant to be read in instalments. I believe the whole thing is a metaphor and a comment on society: those who do not have perfection, will be forgotten.
I love the relationship between Hope and Byron14 though, it’s just the narrative and the bits in between I do not like: the factual bits. I just want more action that’s all.

Laura Predicts

• Byron14 dies and Hope wants revenge for it
• Byron figures out what makes Hope forgettable and just makes herself forgettable without helping Hope be remembered and Hope can't find her.

Jen Predicts 

• Byron14 will have perfection
• Hope will get perfection and be remembered
• Grace will make another appearance

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Holiday Gift Guide - Lauras Choice

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week we are given a different top ten to complete. For more information and a list of past and future topics, go here.

1. Bookish Totes
I love tote bags and especially ones with quirky little book quotes on!

2. Bookish Prints
I have my eye out for one of these to put on my livingroom photo gallery wall, they are so nice.

3. Funko Pops
These are a new obsession for me, they are so cute!

4. Bookish Homeware
Cushions, throws, ornaments etc... Oh it gets me excited just thinking about it.

5. Books Obviously
Everyone knows to buy me books for all occasions and I will never be disappointed with them.
 
6. Bookish Clothing
T-shirts for example that make you instant friends with anyone you see that is wearing a logo/quote from your favourite books and tv shows

7. Bookish Jewellery
I am like a magpie when it comes to sparkly shiny stuff, some of the book related jewellery I have seen is absolutley to die for.

8. Bookmarks
A bookworm can never have enough bookmarks!
 
9. Films Adapted From Books (In Some Cases)
We know the book is always better but sometimes a movie comes along that just gets it!
 
10. More Books
Ok so I might have ran out of ideas for this one but as a fellow bookworm you will know that there is no such thing as too many books!

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Holiday Gift Guide - Jens Choice

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week we are given a different top ten to complete. For more information and a list of past and future topics, go here.

This is my top ten gift guide, split into subcategories

For younger readers
1. The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward
This fantasy is a romp with humour and a bit of angst thrown in
2. Clover Moon by Jacqueline Wilson 
Bless little Clover, hope she has more luck. Set in the Victorian era too, so it’s a bit of a historical lesson!
3. The Midnight Gang by David Walliams
Can’t wait to read this. 

For the minxes
1. Maestra by LS Hilton
A sexy thriller, with lots of sex
2. Falling by Jane Green 
A love story.

For those who want to be scared
1. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Scary witch.
2. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Scary woman

For the young adults
1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Spinoff off from Fangirl. Magical gay love story.
2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Emergency Dance Parties should be a thing.
3. The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson 
Love this book so much.