Safe Harbour by Christina Kilbourne (REVIEW)

★★★★★

Safe Harbour is a YA contemporary novel with important themes of homelessness, mental illness, trust and friendship.

"I don't think he misses the boat at all. But I do. I miss the slap of the waves on the hull and rocking in a half doze on the glinting sea. I miss Dad, too. But never mind." 

Harbour has had an unconventional childhood to say the least. She's living in a tent in Toronto with her faithful dog, waiting for her dad to join her from Florida on their yacht. They're planning to winter in Toronto, which the locals tell her is crazy. When her dad is late arriving, and her credit card gets declined, Harbour starts to worry about what she'll do as winter approaches. She has to learn to accept help from a homeless girl called Lise.

This book was a pleasure to read. Each page kept me wanting more and more. The characters were delightfully real and I felt so much for them.

As I was reading, sat in my cosy warm house with wind, rain and even snow raging outside, I began to feel very grateful for what I have. Reading about Harbour, Lise and Tuff just trying to stay warm and fed made me feel incredibly lucky and also somewhat guilty. It's always impressive when a book makes you think and look inwards. It's nice to be reminded at times to appreciate the things we mostly take for granted.

Another thing I loved about this book - we get closure. I wasn't left with a cliffhanger, I didn't have to make up the ending in my head. I felt satisfied with where Harbour's story finished. That's not to say there weren't threads still to tug at, but we can't have all the answers can we.

I would recommend this to any fans of contemporary YA. It's very well written and will easily suck you in. Can't wait to check out other books by Christina Kilbourne.

What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron (REVIEW)

★★★

"I knew why she'd done it. I knew that Emily hated Griffin Tomlin the moment I'd told her something I never should have".

Clara's sister Emily murdered the boy next door, and only Clara knows why she did it.

This is a multilayered and complex story that takes some time to come together. Too much time in fact. The story is very longwinded. It easily felt like double its 300 pages. I know I am a reader who likes slow pacing, but this was borderline frustrating, with a lot of telling and explaining instead of showing. The writing is quite juvenile in that sense.

However, despite my problems with the telling, the actual story was interesting and did keep me guessing. I thought I had it all figured out early on, but there was always more to know. To the point it was quite unbelievable at times.

For a book tackling such sensitive issues as rape and assault, I would expect to feel some strong emotions. I didn't cry once (and I'm a crier trust me), but I did feel quite uncomfortable with the vivid description of some of the most horrific scenes.

The main character is a normal, pleasant girl whom a lot of people will relate to. She has gone through trauma that has changed her entire being and turned her whole world upside down.

“I almost wanted to tell him why she'd taken Griffin away from him and his parents. But I knew none of them would believe me about what happened between Griffin and me".

Probably my biggest gripe through most of the book was Clara's lack of understanding and forgiveness for people around her, for not reacting to things exactly how she wanted them to in the first instance. Sometimes people need a minute. And you should offer them the same understanding you expect to receive. I suppose this is something she had to learn.

I liked the dual perspectives of the book, present and past. I generally love that way of storytelling in any book. The information from the past was fed to us in just the right dose.

However, another issue I had was with the formatting of the book (at least I think that was the issue and assume it will be fixed) which made the story hard to follow. There was sometimes no indication that the story had moved on to another time or place. Not even a line between paragraphs. I often had to reread bits to figure out that the narrative had jumped ahead to another place from one line to the next. Very confusing.

I did enjoy this book, I was gripped by the plot and needed to know how it ended. But my overall impression is that it needs some serious editing to make it a more concise and appealing novel.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Extinction Trials by S. M. Wilson (REVIEW)

★★

This started out as a promising 4 star read and has gradually reduced in my mind, stupid decision after idiotic decision, to 2 stars. It was OK. And that's me being fair because it started out well. By the end I was over it. 

The premise was definitely better than the execution. There were moments when I was fully invested, and the next moment I was taken completely out of it by the sheer stupidity of the characters, and the slightly juvenile writing.

I would say the characters repeating themselves was annoying, but obviously it's not their fault, it's the author's! Could an editor not point out that you don't need to say the same thing twice in 10 pages?

Don't even get me started on the ending. I just fail to find the logic in any of the decisions.

Aside from these annoyances, the story was actually enjoyable! I felt like I was in Jurassic Park which is awesome! I just wished I was there with some people who had half a brain cell between them.

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg (REVIEW)

★★

The main faults of this book for me were pace, world building and the main character. So most of it unfortunately. :/

The pace was so fast that I had no clue how we got from one part to another. It was just like, oh, OK, we're doing that now. The story could have used another 100 pages easy to give us some actual background, and to build relationships! Things don't happen instantly in real life. Or good fantasy.

Speaking of background, I don't know anything about the world. There's different types of magic, but I know nothing about any of them except paper, and what I know about that is minimal. It's supposed to be Victorian England? Lots of historical inaccuracies that took me right out of it.

Ceony is vapid, shallow, self-obsessed and stupid! She jumps to the most ridiculous conclusions on little to no evidence, simply to move the plot along faster. She's completely unlikeable, but not even in a 'love to hate' way. She's really not for me.

The best part of this book was Fennel, the paper dog. Hands down.

I will say the concept was interesting, just so much more could be done with it. The writer's grammar was good at least. That's always a nice start. Maybe it was unfair to judge this when I read it alongside a Brandon Sanderson book... Standards are high!

I will probably give the series another chance as I own the rest of the books, and they're light, easy reads. I hope book two gives us more!

A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel (REVIEW)

★★★★★

"Let this thing play out. Just until everything passes".

Hannah is remanded into custody at an institution for psychiatric evaluation after an accident occurs at the summer programme she's attending. She's sure it's all a formality and will all blow over, because she can't be to blame for what happened, can she? 

I loved this book. There's nothing I find more entertaining than an unreliable narrator. Contradicting herself from one line to the next, can we really trust her judgement on any of this story? 

"Luckily, I know how to become someone's best friend. It's a skill I've honed since kindergarten".

Hannah is so confident in her abilities and intelligence, she thinks she is a step above other people. As an only child, her parents have raised her to be mature from birth, and it's interesting to see what effect this has on her psyche. 

I would recommend this book to fans of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and obviously Girl Interrupted. There are parallels to be drawn, but this stands apart as an excellent piece of fiction that explores the world of teenagers striving to meet expectations and living with mental illness.

Love, Heather by Laurie Petrou (REVIEW)

★★★★★

I feel privileged to have been allowed to read and review an advanced copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Crooked Lane Books. 

Simply put, I adored it.

"Why doesn't anyone ever stop these guys? How different would the school be if they were as afraid as I am, if there were actual consequences for their actions, if they were somehow kept in line?"

When Stevie's best friend turns on her and everyone in school follows, school becomes a nightmare for her. In her new found isolation and loneliness, she meets the confidently individual Dee, and together they decide to take revenge on the bullies who are making her life hell.  

For anyone who's ever been the victim of bullying, this book will resonate. It is an incredibly honest and insightful story, and at times uncomfortable to read. The book addresses so many issues that young people today face - bullying on social media, mental health, rape culture, gender identity etc. - and it does this with intelligence and respect. 

I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of YA contemporary novels. It was genuinely fantastic and I can't wait to read more by Laurie Petrou.