Hi, and thanks for stopping by.
Today's post is going to be me rating & briefly reviewing the books I read in the second half of March. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section down below!!
Sara Biren’s The
Last Thing You Said
3-3.5 stars
This story is full of potential; it deals with some pretty heavy stuff like grief, financial trouble & teenage alcoholism, but it seems to just touch on a lot of these topics, never really going into huge amounts of detail and relying instead upon a pretty halfhearted romance to steer the story (I say halfhearted because I personally didn't feel like there was ANY chemistry whatsoever).
Samira Ahmed’s
Internment
4 stars
Near-future narratives are the most scary of all; as far as I can tell anyway. There was something so terrifyingly possible about the horrendous events of this novel that I felt constantly nervous & impassioned whilst reading it. I really, really love the focus on activism and the significance of teenagers within the political realm, as well as the emphasis put upon the whole idea of silence equalling betrayal.
Nina de Pass’s The
Year After You
4.5 STARS
Feeling really happy to have discovered Nina's writing through reading this novel. The sense of anxiety and claustrophobia felt really strong and atmospheric throughout, especially with the beautiful backdrop of all of this darkness. I liked the way the new relationships were formed and the ways in which Cara developed as character and a narrator.
Nathan Filer’s The
Shock of the Fall
3.5 STARS
This is definitely an interesting, difficult read. I've read quite a few books now about schizophrenia but this was entirely unique; I think the unreliability of the narration was a lot more blatantly obvious here than in most of the other novels. It was an engaging story, a sad one, at times scary, at times very funny. Really well constructed (not something I usually notice/care for, so quite notable here).
Brigid Kemmerer’s
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
5 stars
At this point, maybe I'm just going to love everything that Brigid writes (she has another contemporary YA due in a couple of months and I cannot wait for it). This is a Beauty and the Beast retelling of sorts; I've had little to no luck with the fairytale retellings I've read so far, but this was absolutely fantastic. It's kind of a really, really cool achievement to make a RETELLING feel suspenseful and unique and almost like a new story entirely. I cannot wait for book number two.
Jeff Zentner’s
Rayne & Delilah’s Midnight Matinee
5 stars
I have a strong feeling that this book may end up being right up there on my Top 5 of 2019 list. I absolutely adored every single page of it. My favourite element absolutely has to be the sense of humour; it really is laugh-out-loud funny. The relationship between Josie and Delia is so perfectly pitched; they are intelligent, hilarious, ridiculous, both flawed & brilliant friends to one another all at once. I would love to read a sequel about them at college.
Savannah Brown’s
The Truth About Keeping Secrets
4 STARS
This is the first thriller I've read in so, so long. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it; it may well have been because it really didn't read as a thriller a lot of the time. It was one of the best-written explorations of grief I've read, I think, because it dealt with the anxiety that comes with grief, the fear, the fascination & the numbness. I'll be really excited to read more from Savannah Brown in the future.
So those are my remaining March reads; discovered some pretty great authors, as well as a couple of absolutely brilliant novels. Let me know your favourite read of the month!!
Till next time
Katie
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