Review: The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

My Rating:


I would like to thank Penguin Random House UK for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

The One Memory of Flora Banks was a quick and easy read, but it wasn't executed the way I had hoped. The premise was an interesting one, but I feel that the storytelling only scratched the surface. I found it to be extremely repetitive, I get the idea behind the repetitiveness, but it got too much.

Character wise, all the characters outside of Flora's character felt more like props than actual characters. The storyline was totally unrealistic. Flora's ability to cope when all of a sudden she didn't know where she was, how she got there, or who the people around her were, was far too calm and accepting. There was no sense of panic or danger. The whole journey thing was beyond unrealistic.

I am also disappointed in how Flora's mother was portrayed. I feel her character needed to be explored more to give an insight into her grief and what she was feeling and going through in order to understand her actions, but instead, she had a very negative light shone on her.

Not one I would recommend.



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Review: Seriously Shifted by Tina Connolly

 Seriously Shifted by Tina Connolly

My Rating:

I would like to thank Tor Teen for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

Seriously Shifted is a fun story full of magic, mischief, and quirky characters. I flew through it in no time at all. It was great fun to catch up with Cam and to join her on another journey full of shenanigans, which in this next installment happens to be a trio of witches who are up to no good.

I did find myself having the same problem with this book as I had with the first. In Seriously Wicked I didn't feel that the characters stood out enough visually and I struggled to build a picture of them. I found it to be the same in Seriously Shifted. The descriptions centred too much on one thing rather than painting a complete picture. Each time there was a new character introduced I learned their name and whether they were white, brown, caucasian, Chinese-American, or Thai. That's not enough. There is much more to a person than that. Paint me a picture. What colour are their eyes? Their hair? Do they have freckles? Are they tall, average, short? I couldn't see them with so little information.

I liked the way the magic was written in riddles and how Cam was trying to stick to her ethics, but it was missing colour and imagination. Cam mixed all these different ingredients and cast her spells but it didn't feel magical. It was rather like baking a cake without the amazing aroma spreading throughout the kitchen, or watching fireworks in black and white with no sound, or sitting by the fire without the crackle of the logs and the heat of the flames. There was no colour or spark to it, it fizzled out.

All in all, the storyline was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it and had a smile on my face for much of the book, but visually I found it lacking and it needed more colour and description to fire the imagination.




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Review: Eight Rivers of Shadow by Leo Hunt

Eight Rivers of Shadow by Leo Hunt

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Eight Rivers of Shadow from the publisher in return for an honest review.

I was keen to read the next in the series after having enjoyed 13 Days Of Midnight, it wasn't a bad read but it wasn't as enjoyable as the first.

I feel that the characterisation was lacking in this second instalment. The choices that the characters made and their interactions didn't work for me. The story relies almost solely on the characters of Luke, Elza and Ash and they didn't come across as strong enough to drive the story in my opinion. I found myself questioning their decisions and more irritated by them than anything else.

The world building is what made the book more enjoyable. The visuals of the underworld and the descriptions of the scenes were a pleasure to read. I missed the humour though. A large part of what made the previous book fun was the Host, they brought a lot of humour and fun to the story and that was missing here.

All in All it was a decent read but it was lacking in comparison to the previous book in the series.




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Review: The Hawkweed Prophecy by Irena Brignull

The Hawkweed Prophecy by Irena Brignull

My Rating:


I received a free copy of The Hawkweed Prophecy from the publisher in return for an honest review.

I find myself conflicted on whether to rate The Hawkweed Prophecy with 3 stars or with 4.

The writing style was good, the storyline and pacing consistent and the characters appealing but the introduction of Leo is where I felt the book went awry.

Bringing the character Leo into the mix really wasn't necessary, I don't feel that he added anything positive to the story. The relationship between Poppy and Ember was unique enough to work on it's own and in my opinion their storyline suffered at the expense of Leo's character. I found the connection between the two girls to be lacking and would have much preferred that the time spent introducing Leo to the story was instead invested in expanding and exploring the growing relationship between Poppy and Ember and creating a more in depth and emotional bond between their characters. My enjoyment of the book would have improved significantly had this been the case.

Aside from the above, the plot was interesting and the writing style was enjoyable and a pleasure to read. The whole coven and witchcraft aspect was done well and was in large what stood out the most for me.




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Review: The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

My Rating:

I received a free copy of The Bone Sparrow from the publisher in return for an honest review.

The plight of the characters in The Bone Sparrow is one that we all should be aware of as it's currently happening in refugee camps right now. It's a shocking, heartbreaking and sad story, made all the more frightening because it's a reality for far too many people.

The Bone Sparrow draws you into the lives of two young characters and their families, one living outside the fence of the refugee camp and one inside, who find each other and strike up a friendship. As the story progresses the violent and inhumane treatment of refugees is at the forefront and it's disturbing reading. But, as disturbing as the storyline is, it's also beautiful. The friendship between the two characters offers hope and an escape from reality for them both.

As the author points out in the afterword, this is really happening. These poor people are suffering and being treated worse than animals. It's not right. We need to step up. More needs to be done to help these poor souls.

There but for the grace of God, go I.




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Review: Resthaven by Erik Therme

Resthaven by Erik Therme

My Rating:

I received a free copy of Resthaven from the author in return for an honest review.

Resthaven was a little slow to begin with but once the pace picked up it improved greatly. There was always something happening or something right around the corner ready to jump out. The suspense and tension built up nicely throughout the story and is largely what made this an enjoyable read. The setting gave off a really creepy atmosphere and created a feeling of foreboding and apprehension that you just knew wasn't going to end well for everyone involved.

Where I feel the story lacked was with the characters and the conclusion. There wasn't much about the characters that appealed to me, they all felt too similar to each other. Each characters background was more or less the same and I think the whole my parents are dead thing was over used. The conclusion felt a little rushed. After the tension and the big final event, where things are being put back together, it didn't feel complete. I would have liked to have had a little more detail to round the whole story off a bit better.

All in all Resthaven was a pretty decent read but in my opinion it came across a little too juvenile for todays standard of young adult reads.




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Review: The Power of Dark by Robin Jarvis

The Power of Dark by Robin Jarvis

My Rating:


 I received a free copy of The Power of Dark from the publisher in return for an honest review.

The Power of Dark was a fun and imaginative read. On finishing the book I felt like I had been on an adventure, the scenes were vivid and colourful and easy to picture in the minds eye and the mix of magic and horror was just right. The story does get a little dark at times but it's balanced out with fun, colourful and quirky scenes that lifts the story and brings a smile to your face.

The storyline was unique and really captured my imagination. The characters were easy to like and relate to and their interactions and dialogue came across as natural and real. The story finishes off nicely but at the same time hints at more to come in the future.

Definitely one I would recommend.


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Review: Wizard's Rise by Phillip Tomasso III

Wizard's Rise by Phillip Tomasso III

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Wizard's Rise in return for an honest review.

I really struggled with this one. I don't think I have ever before used the highlight function as often as with Wizard's Rise. Almost every other page had at least one highlight, covering everything from: spelling errors, wrong words, missing words, random single letters, sentences that made no sense, dialogue for characters that weren't present at the time, plot holes, inconsistencies and more.

I also wasn't very impressed with the way women were overly described and the men totally neglected. I couldn't tell some of the male characters apart or tell you what many looked like. Especially the two kings. Nothing made them stand out. Not enough information was given in order for me to visualise them and set them apart from each other. The women on the other hand? Oh boy! I know a lot about them: pretty, ugly, naked, eye colour, hair colour, how well they filled their blouse, slim, overweight (cause being overweight means unattractive, ugh!) Way to win over female readers.

The story had potential but all of the above totally ruined the whole reading experience. I also found that not much really happened, the story didn't actually move very far forwards. It read more like a prequel. I had to force myself to finish the complete book. It took me almost 2 weeks to read just under 300 pages, says it all really. I continued only out of obligation to review and to keep note of errors discovered, something I don't usually do but did out of respect for the person who sent the book for review on behalf of the publisher.

Not one I would recommend at all.




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Review: Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Into the Dim from the publisher in return for an honest review.

The premise of Into the Dim really intrigued me. It's claimed to be the Outlander of the YA genre. A time travel story set in Scotland. It has to be good, right?

I had high hopes for this one but in the end I was both disappointed and frustrated. I really enjoy time travel stories and that aspect of Into the Dim was OK, not great but not overly bad either. The way the stories interweave and jump back and forth was for the most part done well and not hard to follow. Where I did have huge problems was with the whole set in Scotland part. I'm Scottish born and bred, I've lived in Scotland my whole life so perhaps I'm harder to please when it comes to the dialect etc but I found the dialect and portrayal of the Scots in this book to be way off the mark. The Scots dialect got me more and more annoyed the further I read. You don't want to know how many pages of highlights I have marked!

Apparently being Scottish means we either talk like Yoda: "It's happy we are to finally have you here." "But I'm knowing one thing for certain." "And it's pleased we are to have you here." Or use the word "bloody" all the time in our conversations: bloody cold, bloody brilliant, bloody queen, bloody big emerald, bloody amazing, bloody bizarre, bloody wanker, bloody damn, the list goes on. That's more an English thing than a Scottish thing, and even then it's way over used here. And don't even get me started on the "Cheese an' crackers!" or "How in the name of Mary and Bride.." and "Hill of beans." Don't know where the heck the author found those. In the name of the wee man, yes, but in the name of Mary and bride?

Add to that the over use of pure: pure sorry, pure furious, pure tired, pure unusual. The only Scot you'll hear saying "pure" anything are wee neds from Glasgow. And baked beans for breakfast. It's the norm? Perhaps with the occasional full Scots breakfast fry up and certainly not with a fried egg and jam piece. Boke! We have the same as everyone else, you know cereal, toast, fruit and often porridge. And it's clootie dumpling here in Scotland, not spotted dick.

The language in general just didn't work for me. The characters go back in time and just magically understand the dialects and nuances of the people of that time. They don't stand out despite the fact that they don't adapt their language to that of the times. There's a lot of little things like the use of "Okay" in the dialogue in the year 1145. Okay wasn't in use until 1840 and not well known and used commonly until the 1880's.

(Few Americanisms have been more successful than OK, which survived the political campaign of 1840 that fostered it, quickly lost its political significance, and went on to develop use as a verb, adverb, noun, and interjection. The expression was well known in England by the 1880s. - Dictionary.com)

A character traveling back in time using the word "Okay" would stand out and draw attention to themselves but here it's just brushed over.

Authors if you are going to set your story in another country, using a dialect you are not familiar with, please do proper research. Ask someone who lives there and uses the dialect for advice or find a beta reader who is also familiar with it. The Scots in this book is awful, it's like a cross between Outlander (exaggerated and outdated), Rab C Nesbitt, gibberish and English slang.

I cannot stress enough the importance of research, it would have made a world of difference here. Instead it seems like the author has taken silly stereotypes and ran with it, then thrown in a little Yoda for the hell of it.

Not one I would recommend.




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