All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All The Light We Cannot See is an historical fiction novel written by Anthony Doerr. This book is set during World War II. The two main characters are Marie-Laure, a young blind French girl whose father works in a museum before they have to leave their home because of the war and Werner, an orphan, living in Nazi Germany who goes away to a school to attempt to pursue his love of fixing devices. And a stone which holds special powers...

I'm so split about this book. One part of me really, really loved the poetry feel of it all and the metaphors used and I can't even explain.. the language was just really beautiful. The other part was disappointed. It dragged on. I didn't think much was happening. I felt Doerr spent too much time building up and setting the scene when the best part of the book was the last one hundred to two hundred pages.

Then there is the format of the book. I really liked the short chapters giving little insights into the main characters lives. I just couldn't stand the time jumping. It drove me crazy. I got confused. I think it doesn't help that I had some time away from the book and didn't read it in long sittings but that's not how I read. I'm just gonna have to face it.. I like books in chronological order. I'm probably going to miss out on a load of great books that aren't chronological but hey we all have our preferences. I do really love books which have two or three different main characters and a short section of their story in a chapter and switching between the main characters but unfortunately for me, I think the negatives outweighed the positives for me.

The last 200 hundred-ish pages of this book were great. I loved them. Things were happening. I was desperate for Marie-Laure and Werner to meet. I was really rooting for them both. I wanted Werner to "win", he had to come out of the other side and well Marie-Laure was just admirable throughout for no reason in particular. I just liked her. I really enjoyed the way the book turned out, it may not have been happy but I liked that. I don't want to add any spoilers but some people did not make it and I was sad but it didn't ruin the book for me because I did like the end.

I'm unsure whether I would recommend this book to anyone. I generously gave the book 4 stars out of 5 but maybe it's more 3 and a half.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent Series
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 5 out of 5

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18713356-insurgent

The second book in the Divergent series follows Tris after the Erudite have started a war between all of the factions. This book is a lot darker than the first. It deals a lot with the pain and guilt of Tris after events from Divergent. I enjoyed the darker side to this book and that we saw how weak Tris could be and that she was not perfect and made mistakes. This is something that I praise within a novel. Not every main character can be perfect, and she certainly wasn't. She acted on impulse and threatened her life. I was really invested into the characters life and I often dislike the main character of a book so I'm ecstatic I that I really did like Tris.

One thing I disliked was the relationship between Tris and Four. I really enjoyed their relationship in the first book, and really loved Four's character in Divergent. However, I felt that there was not much focus on Four, he was distant and they were often not speaking through a lot of this book! It got a little repetitive when Tris would do something impulsive and Four would not approve and then they would make up. I did like the connection they had, which did not fail to disappoint. It's a romance I cared about and wanted to work, which also surprised me. I'm the type of cynical reader who dislikes any couple actually put together!

The book revolves a lot around a mystery that Tris is desperate to solving, even willing to sacrifice relationships to find out this mystery which may or may not be important. The end of the book is absolutely perfect. I haven't read an ending as good as this for so long. I crave for more! It was poignant and I really was speechless after reading it. I look back and know it was kind of obvious, but what does that matter! It got me reading and wanting more.

I am really excited to read the final book as well as the film adaptation to Insurgent.

All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher

Title: All I Know Now: Wonderings and Reflections on Growing up Gracefully
Author: Carrie Hope Fletcher
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 3 out of 5

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22232035-all-i-know-now?ac=1 

Carrie Hope Fletcher is an author, a vlogger, a singer, a songwriter and last but not least an actor. I  have been subscribed to Carrie on YouTube and I like her videos, her positivity, her determination and her outlook on life. I was curious about the book so I thought I'd go ahead and purchase it.

Firstly, you can really see the effort and love she has put into this book. A lot of people who have YouTube channels have been releasing books recently and this can always create a little bit of worry. Are they getting a book deal because it is a good idea or because there's guaranteed young buyers and therefore profit? I felt like this wasn't the case with Carrie, (and I'm not saying this is the case for others, it's just a question you may think about) possibly because of her love of books and well just how genuine she seems.

Going into the book, I knew it wasn't particularly aimed at my age group (I am 19), but rather young teens. This expectation fitted reality. Sure, things were relatable and I could see how much passion had been put into the book. However, it was mainly advice for young teenagers struggling at school. A lot of the issues are things that people any age could have, such as bullying or the internet, friendships and relationships. The advice was quite generic and simple, as well as being advice I know doesn't really make a difference to me. I felt I'd already learnt a lot of what she was saying. Of course, she couldn't really go more in-depth with her advice, because it needed to be relatable than to one specific problem and I totally understand that. I think this book is great for young teenagers and an easy read for those who are older and I think different types of people can get at least something out of the book.

I wish there had been more insight into her life. There were a few quirky and serious stories but I would have liked more. I guess that's because it's not an autobiography but a non-fiction help book. I did like the layout of her book, and once again the word "quirky" comes to mind, you could really see her personality in this book, due to things like the chapters being called acts and a finale.

Overall, I think this is a great book for teens and I would definitely recommend it to someone of the right age category. I have nothing bad to say about the book at all, I just don't think it was written for older people! You can really see how much she put into this and it's great to actually be able to see that. It's definitely a little pick-me-up kind of read and can really make you think about your mistakes and how to be a better person. She tried hard not to sound condescending or shove her opinions in your face, but just suggestions on how you could improve yourself or your life, including the helpful 'props' for help if anyone needs it.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Genre: Young Adult
Rating: 3 out of 5

Description: If I stay is about a teenager called Mia who goes for a drive on a winter day with her family and this drive has terrible consequences. Mia must make the biggest decision of her life without the help of anyone else.

Taken from Goodreads.

I read If I stay because I wanted to read it before the film release (I did manage this, unfortunately been a little busy back at university and haven't had the time to review any books). I had heard a lot of positive things about this book so I was really excited to read it.

Overall, I was underwhelmed by this book. I was bored. I thought about not even finishing the book at one point.

I didn't connect with Mia. I didn't really feel any real emotional connection with her and this caused me to not really feel emotional about this book at all.. I didn't feel sad at all about her situation and honestly had no care for how she ended up by the end of the book. When she found out someone else had died, I don't know if it was supposed to be shocking or saddening or whatever but I felt literally nothing. These memories Mia had weren't inspiring nor did they remind me of the little things in life either.. I was just disappointed by the writing.

I was also disappointed as I thought the book was going to be more about her decisions about living and dying but it was rather just a gathering of memories reminding her of happy and sometimes not so happy things. The fact that she could choose one way or another was always prominent but there was no real depth to it. There wasn't really any depth to anything; the story or the characters. There didn't really seem to be much of a story to me...

Nearer the end of the book, I got a little bit emotional and a couple of tears may have come out (however I cry so easily at anything so I don't take this to mean much). But then at the end of the book, Mia just came to a sudden conclusion to her decision and it didn't even feel important and it was just such a boring end!

It was an okay book. It's not something I would recommend and I don't think I'll be reading the sequel to this book 'Where She Went'. I was really disappointed as I was sure it was going to be great.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

I recently read Divergent by Veronica Roth which I am so happy I finally got round to. It only really happened by chance when I stumbled across the book in a charity shop and I thought there's no reason not to read it. Books don't tend to get hyped up or be made into movies for no reason.

I tend to avoid making assumptions before I read a book especially when I really don't know anything about it but I did! I decided not to read this book for a while because I'd assumed it was terrible and I would hate it. My assumptions mainly came from the trailers for the film that I've seen which is ridiculous. I decided it just looked like someone had taken ideas from The Hunger Games and made a bit of a spin on it and tada.

Taken from Goodreads 

Well, how wrong was I? Sure, there are similarities between the two but how many books are so obscure that they can't be compared to any other book. I think it's unfortunate that people, like I did, write off this book because it is compared to another huge series.

I absolutely loved this book. I kind of hated to love this book because it proved me wrong. I was desperate to know what was going to happen.

The relationship between Tris and Four was so interesting to see develop and I was really rooting for them. I loved them. It's not often I love the main characters of a book, I seem to usually have a burning hate for the main character but instead prefer smaller characters but I truly loved Tris. I think she's a great character for people to relate to and I really connected with her. As for Four? I was so intrigued by him and I was not disappointed! Finding out all about him was wonderful. Roth really made you feel things, the emotions I felt for different characters was intense!

I actually can't think of any negatives to this book, which is rare for me. If I'm being picky, I'd say that the comparison between the time of Tris in training and the sudden war that came along was not great. It felt like maybe the training was dragged on for a little longer than needed and then the huge war that exploded just happened so quickly and was squashed in the end of the book.

I can't praise this book enough. I really truly loved it. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. I may give the films a go too! This is a definite 5 out of 5 and I encourage people not to judge books too quickly before they've even given them a go.

PRE-RELEASE REVIEW: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven is a dystopian novel in which a pandemic occurs wiping out 99% of the world population. The book focuses on a few people different lives before and after the pandemic. These people are all connected by actor Arthur Leander. We discover the difficulties of surviving after the pandemic in a world where there is not even electricity or phones and when cults start to appear.

Photo taken from Goodreads

The opening chapter really excited me. The opening scene took place during a play of King Lear and well I don't want to spoil it, so all I will say it's a very dramatic opening scene and that really made me start reading more.

I won't lie though, I really didn't like this book for a good maybe 50 pages or something. I thought it was going to be one of those books that I couldn't even get through but I'm not one to give up on a book and I'm glad I didn't. I think I had trouble with the book because it's different to my usual reads.

I was amazed by how well Mandel connected everything together. All the characters were connected in different ways and I found that amazing, particularly they were all connected by Arthur Leander. I adore an author who can do such complex things with their writing like managing to connect people just as Mandel did. It wasn't even just simple connections, some of the connections we didn't find out for so long but then things just clicked and unravelled..

At first I found the mixture of going from the past and future very frustrating, but this just took some time getting used to and was a really great way for the author to tell the story! Mandel really pulled that off well.

I liked the book because you don't get to the end and everything is resolved, life is back to normal. There was just a hint of hope and I really liked that. I was so impressed by this book. Receiving it, I had never heard of the author or the book and I really didn't know what to think especially because it's probably not the type of book I'd choose. I really hope this book does well!

Characters
One thing that kept playing on my mind through the book was where's Jeevan? It was driving me crazy. I really wanted to know more about him and what he was doing and unfortunately he wasn't mentioned as much in the book as I would have liked. I feel I just instantly liked his character from the very beginning at the theatre. It was so good how Arthur was kind of in the centre of it all, with everyone connected around him. I ended up loving Kirsten however she seemed to be the only member of the travelling symphony who I really had some kind of vested interest in.. but I did really care what happened to her!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.
Rating: 4 out of 5

Station Eleven releases on 10th September (UK)

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

It's Kind of a Funny Story has been one that I've always thought about reading. I actually saw the film two or three years ago and fortunately it wasn't memorable enough to overpower my brain while reading the book, a problem that often occurs when I watch the film before the book. I have to admit though, I couldn't get some of the actors faces out of my head while reading the book.

It's Kind of a Funny Story is a story about Craig, a teenager who is battling depression who checks himself into a psychiatric hospital after wanting to commit suicide. The book focuses on the stress of school which really can get overlooked in real life and the expectations of himself and others to do well in school especially a school he worked so hard to get into.

What I enjoyed about this book is that there wasn't any big event that seemed to set off his depression. Craig also had a loving family. It represents those people who, from afar, seem like there is no reason for them to have depression and this is really, really important to modern day life. Often people are overlooked or told they're stupid because they apparently have no reason to be depressed and "people have it much worse than you". I really like how Vizzini kept away from all that, showing that anyone can have depression. This was the best and most important thing about the book.

What I think is really special about this book is that at the end of the book there is an extract to say that Vizzini was in a psychiatric hospital for 5 days, just like the character Craig. This is very poignant and shows that the book was really inspired by the authors own experiences. Unfortunately, the author is not around today due to his depression. This really seems to make the book that much more meaningful and personal to Vizzini.

I can't say I was extremely impressed with the book however I did like it's quirkiness showing Vizzini's great skill of even making such a sad and touching subject a little fun in ways. I did enjoy all the different characters in the hospital and the author did such a great job and creating such unique characters and really making the readers like the characters. Particularly, Noelle was an interesting character. She had cut her face with scissors and she is a great source for the struggles of teenage girls and their looks.

I love the book cover that I own (the one pictured above) and there is a reason behind this book cover. which is great! Craig enjoyed to draw a lot of maps when he was younger. While in the hospital he then revived his love for drawing maps and developed these pictured into something new. I feel like this was an interesting idea to bring something back from childhood that you loved but make it better and fall in love with it all over again.

One aspect I didn't really like is that it just seemed like almost all of Craig's problems were solved after just a few days in a hospital. He managed to eat some food, made some friends because they were the only people to talk to and really fancied a girl who fancied him back and that's all he really needed.. A bit of attention maybe. However, I guess it was still explained that depression never just goes, people just deal with through drugs or a therapist or other ways to ease the difficulties.

This book was a very easy read and even better because of it's simplicity. The progress of Craig throughout his stay was very interesting and it is a great book to get a real insight of a normal teenager's mind. I believe this is a very good YA read and would recommend it to all teenagers. It is definitely a book written just for teenagers with the exact language appropriate for the age group. I won't say this book was perfect but it was a nice short and easy read that really made you think a little.