Review for Swim the Fly by Don Calame

"Matt Gratton and his two best friends, Sean and Coop, always set themselves a summer-time goal. This year’s? To see a real-live naked girl for the first time. As far as Matt is concerned, they’d have better luck finding the lost city of Atlantis. But seeing a girl in the buff starts to seem like child’s play compared to the other summertime goal Matt sets for himself: to swim the 100-yard butterfly (the hardest stroke known to God or man) in order to impress Kelly West, the hot new girl. So what if he can’t manage a single lap, let alone four? He’s got the whole summer to perfect his technique. What could possibly go wrong?" As you can probably tell from this blog I am very much a girly girl and that is definitely reflected in what I enjoy reading. My favourite genres have to be contemporary young adult fiction and chick-lit and so when Swim the Fly was pitched to me as “dude-lit” the male equivalent to the kind of books I love I HAD to read this book. Swim the Fly will make even the most reluctant teenage reader compelled to read more. Don Calame spins a tale that is effortlessly funny and surprisingly heart warming. Laugh out loud hilarious I could not put this book down because I just had to know what crazy scheme Matt, Coop and Sean would come up with next on their summer quest to see a real live naked girl. The fantastic characters were definitely the biggest highlight of this book for me. Each character is so hilarious and hugely likeable right from main character Matt to secondary characters like the lovable Grandpa Arlo. I really became attached to the characters and even developed a teeny tiny book boy crush on sweet, dorky, Matt. Matt is a fantastic main character at the beginning of the book he’s so naive and young but as the book goes on he really grows. Matt’s definitely a character you can get behind and cheer on through embarrassing and at times impossible situations. Despite Swim the Fly being a debut novel Don Calame already has a boisterous, mischievous, effortlessly funny writing style that will speak to teenage boys. Swim the Fly is a strong addition to the dude-lit genre that’s good enough to make king of dude-lit John Green’s toes curl with envy. If you’re looking for a mood boosting, feel good read Swim the Fly is the book for you. I absolutely flew through this book because it was so effortlessly readable and most importantly enjoyable. This book cheered me up and took my mind off things and brought some sunshine to a gloomy day. This is the kind of book that I could happily read forever and I was so sad as I got closer to the end and even made a conscious effort to slow my reading down savouring every last page. I’m ecstatic that Don is carrying on the boy’s story in a second book Beat the Band told from my personal favourite character Coop’s point of view. I hope the boys have many more exciting adventures to come because I for one can’t get enough and spring 2012 seems oh so very far away. Overall Swim the Fly is a very much needed breath of fresh air in Young Adult fiction. Perfect for the nerdy teen, fans of The Inbetweeners, Napoleon Dynamite, Adrian Mole and anybody who can remember those socially awkward, hormone ridden, acne filled years will love this book. If you’re looking for a book with warts and all characters, laugh out loud humour and not a supernatural creature in sight this is the book for you and comes with the highest of recommendations from me. My Rating 5/5 stars Synopsis taken from goodreads Thanks go to Templar for sending me this book to review

If you enjoyed this review and are interested to learn more about Swim the Fly be sure to stop by the blog on Friday for my tour stop where Don will be discussing the importance of dude-lit. I got the post through today and let me tell you Don raises some very interesting points! For anyone interested in following this tour here is a list of blogs participating.

In My Mailbox!

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren Hello happy readers! As I very fortunately didn’t die from the rapture yesterday I thought I would bring to you an IMM 1.) As evidence of my existence and 2.) To celebrate another week of undisturbed reading ahead! As some of you may know I’m on a book buying ban and with the computer not working IMM posts are few and far between however I got some great books this week and wanted to share so without further ado let’s bring out the books!

Bought

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown But I Love Him by Amanda Grace Ellie Andrews Has Second Thoughts by Ruth Saberton

For Review

Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen So that’s what I got this week I’m so excited about every single book it was definitely a good book week! If you’ve read any of the books I got this week and want to leave me a comment letting me know what you thought please do and make sure you leave me a link to what you got in your mailbox. Here’s to another week of fantastic reading ahead :-)

Review for City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

This is a review for the fourth book in The Mortal Instruments series. Although there will be no spoilers about City of Fallen Angels there may be spoilers about the first three books in this series. "City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels." Unlike a lot of you reading this review I only just recently read and discovered the awesome that is Cassandra Clare’s books. I’ve been working my way through The Mortal Instruments and when I finished City of Glass I knew at that point that the story was going to be carried on. Now I thought City of Glass tied things up very nicely and was a little apprehensive as to where Cassandra Clare was going to take not only City of Fallen Angels but the next 2 additional books after that. Regardless I was still beyond excited for this book and didn’t even question reading it because hello? It’s by Cassandra Clare! And when Cassie writes a book you read it. Even if it’s just because she created Jace Wayland because that after all shows the obvious genius that is there. ANYWAY yes, SUPER excited but also a little anxious, but no need to bother yourselves worrying folks because City of Fallen Angels is amazing, an excellent addition to the series and complements City of Glass and the previous books so well that if you didn’t know Cassie only originally planned to write 3 books you never would have guessed it. In CoFA Cassandra completely evolves her story showing us the aftermath of the events that took place in City of Glass. I thought that everything regarding that story line was finished but Cassie brings to the table a whole lot of questions I hadn’t even considered. Like how will Simon’s life be affected now that he bares the mark of Cain? Will Jace being brought back from the dead have any consequences? And how can Alec and Magnus pursue a relationship together when Magnus can never age or die? All of this is mentioned during this book along with brand new problems and the epic twists and turns that Cassandra Clare is famous for. What I really enjoyed about this book was how it really revolved around Simon. Simon is by far my favourite character from this series and I loved delving more into his life especially now that he’s increasingly more interesting with his vampy day lighter status and his mark of Cain that brings sevenfold on to anyone who harms him. Underneath all of his new found awesome he’s still the lovable, dorky, teenage boy that we all fell in love with and I found it interesting watching him juggle his old life with his new one. This book features all of our old favourite characters and some new faces. If you’ve read Clockwork Angel there are also some references from that thrown in which I found fun to read. I would love if Cassie intertwined her stories even tighter in the future. The ending of this book finishes on an intense cliff-hanger and I’m already pining for the next book. With City of Fallen Angels Cassandra Clare expertly entwines events in past books with a new exciting plot mixing the old with the new to keep things fresh but still maintaining what the fans love about this series. Cassandra’s mind is a labyrinth of awesome stories and ideas and this woman’s writing never fails to amaze me. I can’t wait to see where she takes us next! My Rating 4.5/5 stars Synopsis taken from goodreads Thanks go to Walker for sending me this book to review

Review for Flawless by Lara Chapman

"Sarah Burke is just about perfect. She's got killer blue eyes, gorgeous blond hair, and impeccable grades. There's just one tiny-all right, enormous-flaw: her nose. But even that's not so bad. Sarah's got the best best friend and big goals for print journalism fame. On the first day of senior year, Rock Conway walks into her journalism class and, well, rocks her world. Problem is, her best friend, Kristen, falls for him too. And when Rock and Kristen stand together, it's like Barbie and Ken come to life. So when Kristen begs Sarah to help her nab Rock, Sarah does the only thing a best friend can do-she agrees. For someone so smart, what was she thinking? This hip retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac is filled with hilariously misguided matchmaking, sweet romance, and a gentle reminder that we should all embrace our flaws." I love modern retellings and Flawless is a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac about Sarah a seemingly beautiful, funny, intelligent girl if it wasn’t for her one flaw- her unusually large nose. For Sarah this one imperfection cancels out the rest of her perfect life ultimately defining who she is and the decisions she makes. So it really comes as no surprise that when she befriends hot new guy at school Rock she’s willing to cast aside her new found feelings for him to help her beautiful bff Kristen nab him for her own. When I first started this book the thing that really drew me in were the characters. I loved Sarah so much she’s hugely likeable given the fact that she’s intelligent, funny and despite feeling self conscious about her nose doesn’t take any rubbish from anybody regarding it. As for Sarah’s best friend Kristen she’s a character I really wanted to hate, after all she is putting Sarah through emotional hell by dating her crush, but I just couldn’t because deep down Kristen has a heart of gold and would be mortified to know what she was putting her best friend through. Despite everything Kristen is an excellent best friend standing by and sticking up for Sarah when she’s ridiculed for her nose and even trying to set her up with a cute guy. Sure Kristen’s a little ditsy but her heart was always in the right place making her a really great character. Sarah and Kristen share a true but complicated friendship that feels very real and is a key feature to the book. I for one certainly envied the fiercely loyal relationship between the girls. This book has everything a girl wants in a book. It’s got a hot forbidden romance, best friend drama, and struggles with body image and self confidence making Flawless relatable to pretty much any girl! But despite this book having a good dash of romance above all this is a story about the true meaning of beauty and coming to terms with who you are and how you look. The one strong message throughout being should Sarah change her nose to fit in with society’s idea of beauty? Is her flaw really her nose? Or is it actually how Sarah see’s her nose that’s the problem? I loved the little quotes at the start of every chapter on beauty and found that they provided a lot of food for thought on the concept of beauty and the role it plays in this story. As a reader I’m hugely surprised that this is Lara Chapman’s debut novel. Already she has such a strong distinctive voice as a writer that takes many authors years to perfect. Lara writes with confidence and humour making Flawless quite literally its names sake! I can pick no fault with this book and flew through it constantly thinking just one more chapter that chapter turning into 3 more! Overall I think that Flawless is an important book for teenage (or older!) girls to read given the pressures to look perfect in today’s society. I can’t recommend it enough and will be eagerly awaiting another book by Lara Chapman. My Rating 4.5/5 stars Synopsis taken from goodreads Thanks go to Bloomsbury for sending me this book for review

Random Ramblings (2) My Self Imposed Restraining Order on Books

So June is coming up and June will be a very busy time for me. Fun times but busy times that are going to need MONEY. June is always a busy month for me because I have a lot of family birthdays at that time but this year even more so with it being the blogs 1st blogoversary and me attending the Manchester Blogger Meet Up. On top of that I’m trying to save for a new laptop with my computer going bust so as you can see there are a billion reasons why I need more money and so have enforced upon myself a book buying ban. However I am sadly not a normal person. I’m addicted to buying books and so instead of going cold turkey I have a set of rules to insure that I save money but do not go insane which would prevent me from enjoying and taking part in the numerous fun activities I have planned for June. So here are my rules, I wanted to type them up and post them on the blog so it’s all official and so you guys can hopefully support me. Rules 1.) I am allowed to buy a grand total of 4 books per month. For some people this might seem easy but for somebody who can easily buy 4 books each week this is like eating scraps of ham when I’m used to steak with all the trimmings. 2.) HOWEVER I am only allowed to buy books that I REALLY want/need e.g. next book in a series I love, new release from a favourite author. 3.) Books can only be bought if they are on a special offer. Which can be anything from cheap books on Amazon to 3 for 2 offers. Not allowed to buy books for the full price. 4.) Kindle books cheaper than £2 are allowed and don’t count. Swaps on Read it Swap it are allowed and do not count towards 4 book total. 5.) Avoid IMM’s and new releases posts like the plague because they are evil temptress posts that will be the death of you! How strict is that!? Ok not super strict but it’s enough for me to still buy the books that I desperately want and save some money. I think it’s about time I started behaving like a responsible adult and took more care with my money and spending especially when I already have so many books to read. I seriously have about 3 years worth to get through. I think 4 books a month is a reasonable amount especially with all the books I get for review and the books on my to be read pile. I don’t know how long this bans going to go on for. In some ways I think it would be a good thing to limit myself from now on as I’ve already noticed how much more I appreciate the books I do buy and how much extra cash I have so I guess it’s something I’m going to go along with for as long as possible. The small print is that these rules go out of the window if I’m going to a blogger event, author signing or whatever because honestly? How can someone *not* buy books at an event like that? So I’m going to allow myself more leeway then but still try not to go crazy. If fellow bloggers practically force books on to me though then I cannot be responsible for my actions ;-) So far I’ve actually strangely been enjoying saving my money and buying less books but I’m just starting out and I know there will be hard times ahead so if any of you have any advice or tips please let me know in the comments.